May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 73: A hyena

Aila sported a frown as she looked at the destruction laid before her. There is plenty of debris here and there from the excitement her other team members have caused. She has thought and assumed that they are more or less able to control themselves. Be able to hold back from unnecessary use of force and power. Obviously, they have indeed failed in that matter spectacularly.

"Would anyone explain why you guys need to destroy a house or two just by confronting one zombie?" Aila demands no excuses for their lack of control. "Don't tell me it was because it was a level two zombie. Far as I know, coordination and teamwork could subdue it without going to all cavemen."

"...it was not level two." Jerome said softly. If it wasn't for the fact that they were in a close space and it was deadly silent, Aila might not have caught it. Currently, they go into one of the houses nearby to tend to their injuries.

Being not a supernaturalist warrants her not to be as sharp as them, which Aila is sometimes happy to not have at all. Only at moments like this does she hate the dullness of her senses. She needs to have the right conditions to sense things she normally cannot perceive.

“Not level two? I was sure it was level two though.” Aila was indignant at being told that she was wrong. “It’s built and the coloring meets the criteria.”

“It did fulfill all conditions for level two. But the crystals harvested from them were telling something else.” Travis said as he gave the said crystal to Aila.

Aila examined the crystal. And as they said, it is indeed not a level 2 crystal. It was much richer in color and was giving off a tempting aura to those who lay a hand on them. If Aila was less controlled or she was a person with a supernatural ability, she might also be tempted. But unfortunately, Aila was not a supernaturalist nor was she lacking any self-control.

“A level four? How did its host not change in appearance the least?” Aila concluded, as she more or less held all sorts of crystals back from her previous life to know the difference.

“So this is level four?” Travis only said as he received the crystal back when Aila reached out to him. “ The richer the color and the feeling were one of the factors, huh? I wonder if the energy emitted from them was more powerful than what we already have.”

Aila briefly told Travis the estimates as she directed the rest of the team, who were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the discussion they were having. Perhaps to them it was like they were speaking in a foreign language that Aila could only pity them for being stuck in the middle. So she dismissed them to search for things by themselves, which was welcomed very well by them.

“Can I keep this after we return?” Jerome asked as he eyed the stones before no longer keeping his eyes on them. “This might be what we need to make that barrier project kickstart.”

“No problem.” Travis replied as he kept the crystal in his space, seeing that Jerome was getting handsy about having it. “Though you are not allowed to hold it without anyone supervising you, okay? And remember only for study purposes, it matters not Bella baiting you to do something stupid.”

“....fine.” Jerome agreed, as he already had a track record, so he just accepted the terms quite generously.

“Good,” Travis said as he dozed alcohol to the wounds which had Jerome hissing in pain. “Though I admit that your team were competent enough power-wise, you guys really cannot be out for missions that require stealth, it seems.”

“...while I admit the fault might lie with me. This one is not my own making.” Aila raised her arms in defeat to the unwanted attention they had attracted in the neighborhood. Really, it is not her fault that these guys choose to be trigger happy.

“As much as I want to believe it was your fault, I'm afraid all of us are responsible for it though," Jerome piped at the side. "It does not help that all of us have some history of going overboard."

Billy and the rest of the team showed agreement with the words uttered by Jerome. Aila swears she will be straightening them after they return home. Felix would be both annoyed and happy after she would shove them into his care for a few days for training.

“How do we deal with the eyes directed at us?” Billy said, as he sensed a particularly strong presence among their audience.

“Just let them be for now.” Aila was dismissive as she said this. “They will not risk antagonising us at the moment. Focus on the mission we have at the moment. Though we need to stay for a night here, it seems.”

Nodding at the instructions, Billy and the rest of the team escorted Travis to the warehouses to get the supplies stored there. Jerome did not go with them and only stayed where they were as he was particularly concerned about the presence outside. Tame he might be most of the time, he was a hyena too. Savagery was in their bones no matter the docility he showed.

“Don’t think of confronting them, as if yet.” Aila warned off Jerome, who was brewing his bloodlust beneath that serene face of his. “As much as we are fine on our own, these people were a good asset for our future. As to whether they are foes or not, we can otherwise convince them just to not have a repeat of Gerald's ungratefulness. If we had to use force, we would. But currently, don’t act upon your impulses.”

“Was I too obvious?” Jerome lost his goofiness as he eyed Aila with a familiar glint that is present in their circle of friends.

“Worry not only those who are familiar with you get to notice your subtle changes. Travis definitely noticed, but that guy was more similar to you than you might notice. He is definitely egging you to do something to those people outside.” Aila knows the basic way her friends' minds work and most of the time they are not guilty and use each other to make a point.

“They are annoying,” Jerome said. “I don’t want a threat to the nest I finally found comfortable.”

“Those people are not enough to be a threat, Jerome. Rest your worries. Bella was already doing appropriate actions for what you are afraid of.” Aila patted Jerome’s head as if he was a puppy. “More than anyone else she was the most protective of her nest.”

“True to that.” Jerome smiled at the statement. He then stood up and followed the others to the warehouses.

Aila, who was left in the house, smiled coldly at the direction the peepers were in. “Although I am not as vicious as Bella, I am also quite fierce in dealing with matters that concern me. If only these people were not a necessity for the future, I would have long done something to them the moment I discovered them.”

Whispering a few hushed whispers in the wind, Aila used one of the favors the world was willing to give to her. This place is destined to be theirs. And she is not allowing anyone to take it away from them. Even to the original owners.

Done with her whispers, the wind slightly picked up before it dissipates. It only took a few seconds for that to happen and even if there were people who saw her strangeness, they would not be able to connect it to her. After all, this was the benefit that Aila only has, even her precious protagonist cannot have such special treatment.

Aila did not follow her team to the warehouse, instead she went to inspect the houses to see if there were other zombies lurking in them. If there were, she plans not to provoke them if they are proven to be ‘tame’ enough and be used in deterring others from fancying this place. Although the world has already made sure this place is protected in some ways, like her old neighborhood, she said she only wanted to take more security measures for the people around her.

As the compound was big she only looked at the houses nearby. At the same time, she selected a place for them to rest for the night. The RV might be a homey thing to have on the road. Nothing really beats a house with rooms that can make you sleep in a bed all by yourself.

As much as she and her friends are used to dogpiling with each other once in a while, they are with other people whom they are not really very close to. If they do end up being in the same place, she could imagine them not having a good sleep at all. Not to mention they, the hyenas, had a habit of cleanliness. This made them very used to sporting a professional mask so as to not offend others carelessly.

Finding a satisfactory house to settle in for the night, Aila conveyed her location in the walkie-talkie. She informed them that she would be waiting for them here. And to tell them not to make them too hasty in their current task, she will prepare some hot food for them here. Fortunately, the bag she was carrying had some basics she could use to make a decent meal for the night.

It was about night when they were done picking up the supplies they deemed they had priority for this mission. They did not move the other things for reasons they wanted to get back here to scout the community that seems to have survived well in this area. As Aila intended, they needed people and these people might be good candidates for an addition to their population.

Travis, who often faced the lack of personnel in the labs due to other departments snatching his talents, was particularly glowing as he kept his eyes on the outside. He cannot wait to grab some people who will be thrown at Bella, Felix, and Stephen for reformation. If only he did not want a repeat of welcoming the wolves, he would have done as he liked. But he was sensible enough to not do that. Their population really suffered back then because they had grown wary outside of their own.

As someone who gathered various reports about statistics of their populations’ well-being, he is more or less aware that they do need some professional help with their mental health. He noticed a growing trend in which Aila had privately talked with him. They had grown too recluse and untrusting of the outside world.

Aila said that their people were not really well adjusted as she thought they were. The repeated blows of death, as well as betrayal of their kindness in their hardest times have made them particularly xenophobic. Coupled with the fact that the base had been their only safety net in the long winter, their collective efforts to survive made them unable to assimilate others into their groups. They even go as far as not interacting with the Ferrers more than they should.

If that did not ring the warning bells, Travis was willing to give up his dreams of being a doctor. A human’s mind is complex and he cannot predict what will happen in the future if things continue on in this manner. He cannot even imagine what people would think if they knew that they were reaching out and actively enticing people to join in. They might react badly, especially those who lost their zombified children. They were already one of the most extreme in their numbers.

But they have no choice but to let them see reason and logic. It might take some conditioning for them to at least welcome others, rehabilitation was the best thing, but he was more inclined to take extreme measures for extreme things. And he knows that the rest of the hyenas will agree with him on this.