May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 41: Resuming their journey

Aila also knows what Bella is worried about. This was initially one of the fears she had and a reason why she wanted them to leave on the first day of the outbreak. But due to what Alfred was changing in the city, she had no choice but to let them go through some hardship. As days passed by, it was inevitable that danger would increase exponentially as the infected mutate into zombies.

The fourth day of the apocalypse made people start to panic. Though this is yet the time for the raiding and looting of department stores, markets, and warehouses to start, this is the time when the zombies will start terrorizing the people nearby. For people who are used to utilizing force, this was the day they started to show their cruelty in an upright manner.

And after a week, there should be some small local snakes emerging from those people. Thus, giving them more danger than what a zombie could do to them. They are a more dangerous bunch than zombies because most people in this period will develop some abnormal reasoning or something due to their experiences. And Aila was more vigilant of them than anything else.

Regardless of what they were worried about, they had to move forward to get to their destination as soon as possible.

They are currently on the sixth day of the apocalypse and it is estimated that they will arrive in the last town they will be passing by in just a few hours. However, this certain place was a little problematic because of its not-so-big population. A problem that is opposite to the one they had with populous cities.

The zombies are currently concentrated in places where there is a human population. They tend to stay there until their senses will then look for more ‘prey’ other than the increasingly decreasing ones in the territory it is in. And as far as Aila remembers, this phenomenon would start roughly a week later. So they had to hurry to their base before anything else.

However, for small towns with a small population, the situation differs from that in cities. In a city, there will be more people than the undead at this time of the apocalypse. Therefore, zombies tend to be scattered following numerous scents of living humans. And in smaller towns with not-so-large-populations, it is notable that if there is a living person in the vicinity, zombies are easily attracted to them due to the lack of living prey they could find in the area.

"How would you like to deal with those in front of us?" Asked Felix via their walkie-talkie, as he could see a small cluster of zombies at a distance from the RV the boys were currently in.

The hyenas were divided into two groups; one to ride with Aila and her parents(though at night Stephen would be with the boys for the privacy of the girls) and the other was to ride in the other RV. Although they could certainly fit in one RV while traveling, Aila could just imagine how noisy the vehicle would be and was very opposed to the idea she prepared two RVs for more than one reason. As much as they like to crowd with each other, everyone agrees that they too need some time out of their faces once in a while.

The boys volunteered to be in the smaller RV while the girls would stay in the larger one. There was no objection and Travis and Judith exchanged some supplies that one of the other RVs might need. Especially on some diesel, if something might happen, they have to have some spares at hand.

"Can we hit them and run?" Asked Liza as she looked tried and lifeless. The girl was tried for the last mischief they did on the hoard they made earlier. "I don't think I have the stomach to get out and practice my skills."

As much as possible, they took the moment to practice their skills at every opportunity that came in their way. Those with supernatural abilities practiced their abilities as much as they could. While those who had yet to awaken were taught by Stephen to wield a gun. Though they had some relevant experiences with firearms, Stephen’s lessons were appreciated, especially by those who were not really good at the subject. Aila, on the other hand, also taught them some common sense that they need to remember when they kill zombies.

Travis and Judith were also taught how to use various weapons to protect themselves. Their abilities are not aggressive in nature and they are people that need the most protection. Should something happen to them, most of their supplies will no longer be accessible. So they are taught the most to protect themselves.

"As much as I would agree with you, Liza, I think we should get out and learn the necessities of survival now rather than later." Harry's voice sounded out from the communication device. "Say there was this idea that Jerome had said earlier. What do you...."

For people who knew them one way or another, they will be really shaken by the plans they are making. Don’t be fooled by the missy and proud son appearances they had when the world was still at peace, their core was a terrible gremlin that is simply waiting for the world to burn. If they did not have a reputation to hold, Aila was sure these guys were villains that the world did not want to have to deal with.

Now that they don’t have anything to be mindful of, they fully show how terrible of a person they could be in the absence of a chain that limits them. Because Aila is certain that no sane person could suggest blasting anything that stands in the way, or even say that they could play bandits should they get bored along the way. No offense to a real hyena. Her hyenas are just too rogue, so that has her thinking something has gone wrong as they were growing up.

Roughly planning a blitzkrieg speed run in those areas, Aila joined in and together they pooled together all sorts of bad ideas her friends had. And in a few moments, they utterly decimated the small group before them with a series of colorful flashes in the background before the world ushered a temporary peace into them.

"How much longer do we have in order to get to your home, Aila?" Alexa said with tiredness in her tone."I think the whole thing is starting to get into me now."

Aila looked into the faces of Liza and Alexa and saw that they were not really their best selves. Though Aila supposed, it is quite normal as the two are not really the most mentally strong people in their bunch. The wariness of the long journey and the frequent stopping to eliminate the zombies or mutated animals before them has already seeped in and has them feeling too exhausted mentally and also physically now.

Taking note of their state, Aila had the intention of letting them rest and excusing them from joining in the future "exercises" later on for a while. Under the encouragement of Aila, they then went on the road as soon as they settled down from the adrenaline of their activities.

Exactly as they drove away, Aila could see some activities on the edges of the woods that were not caused by zombies, judging from the movements and noise they were making. Wisely, she did not alarm others about it so that none would be more worried about their lives. Although she has told them of the horrors a mutant animal could be, facing them in reality beats all the theories and knowledge they had. Not to mention they really are not ready to fight them head on.

In the past few days, Aila has also been busy fending away the less harmless mutant animals from their camp. Using the carcass of the slayed snake from the day they made a camp here, she led away those carnivorous types. But she has been running out of meat to lure them away for a while now.

She does not have time to kill another one to not let them get near the camp now, so they all have to get away before those beasts come and do damage to them.

Briefly before she put her mind down on the matter, Aila saw the thick hind leg of an animal. She did not know what animal that was, but she was sure it was a carnivore because of how bloodied its fur was. No doubt it should be some powerful animal, thankfully they already left so as to not have an encounter with it.

As estimated, Aila and her group arrived at the small town. There were plenty of zombies as expected and they were all attracted to the noise their vehicle was making and their scent like a living prey. Slowly they trailed after them, while those coming at them on the road were hit and run by them. It was a messy business that would surely make car washes charge extra payment to their customers for their services if they were still living in the peaceful society they had once lived in.

Fortunately, those car wash service workers will not have to solve this problem. Business is closed and probably most of them are already unable to work. And unfortunately, for those who are currently using their vehicles, like some bulldozer vehicles, they will have to do all the thorough cleaning later.

Other than a little concern about cleanliness, there is nothing much to comment on. To be honest, their way of shortening their time to get through this town was too extravagant in terms of their consumption. One was that they used their gas too fast just to maintain a certain speed. And second, they simply have a do or die attitude and not mind the costs currently.

With Alexa and Liza being currently "excused", the rest have decided that everyone will take a break altogether earlier when they are getting closer to the town. Thus, they decided the fastest way to get through the area without them getting out, despite the fact it would deplete some of their precious resources.

Who told themselves to be too economical and not have their tanks be full until they are fully empty of them? At some point during their blitzkrieg, one of the RVs has stopped due to the tank being empty.

Due to the others stopping in the middle of their passage through the town some distance away from the hoard of zombies they attracted, those inside that RV had no choice but to refuel on the side while others did the killings out of necessity. Thankfully, they had some extra kept from both Travis and Judith's spaces. If they coincidentally stopped near a station, the two practically took away most barrels of fuel they could without alarming the local forces of their resourcing. Because other than the fuel that they raided, they also took away a significant amount of other supplies they might need.

Things like food and other stuff they found in the convenience stores of each station. Regrettably, some of the consumables like those steamed hotdogs are already spoiled and cannot be eaten. It can be said that they really did not leave much for those places after they were done.

The other RV mindfully waited for them in the front and keeping an eye on the swarms nearby. As soon as the other was fine, they then led the way and cleared out their road.