May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 59: Disaster

Nursing a headache, Aila decides to throw Felix to facilitate his uncle before he utilizes GPS or the now almost ownerless satellites in the atmosphere itself to scourge every known place they might hide in. They might be sheltered by the snow and ice in winter. When spring comes, the man is sure to be able to determine their exact place with his keen instincts. That guy is worse than a paranoid man obsessively looking for his beloved nephews.

Alexa cannot agree more with her solution in regards to the lieutenant. With Felix on the helm, the man would not do anything too drastic on the premise that he really did not like upsetting his nephew. God knows how much they get away with things with Felix as their protective talisman against the lieutenant.

Other than that, Alexa gave her a run down of the things she had gathered from the satellites she had hacked into weeks ago. Warning Aila to take note of the increased number of frozen lands wherein they are currently in the middle of. Alexa saw a huge change in the global climate and she is worried about what it will bring, especially when the migrant animals start flocking upon the descent of spring. A phenomenon that would surely wake up the sleeping hungry predators.

“I’ll make a suggestion about it later in the war council,” Aila said, just before she excused herself. Indeed, what Alexa is warning is a huge threat to them with or without acknowledging their presence at the moment.

At the moment, the threat of mutant animals has yet to reach a level wherein they could truly do damage to them. Their evolution has yet to slow down and be stable, although they are an annoying nuisance because of their developing firepower when they show themselves. But the future cannot be said to be the same.

In three years' time, the animals will reach their stabilized period and some of them will be at the apex of their position in the food chain. Various rumours back then told tales of the annihilation of several bases when beasts descended on their bases. And whenever the migration period of the birds comes, they are a huge addition to the threats people are facing after the zombie tides that are starting to be a norm at this point of time.

Birds in general are creatures who do not specifically stay in one place at a time. They then fly wherever food is abundant and migrate to places with a climate that is advantageous to themselves. If there is just one or two, they can deal with it as it is. But birds that migrate rarely go solo and when they come they are in flocks. The most harmless doves to the predatory falcons, when they come in huge waves, well-established bases will even have a hard time dealing with them. How much more those bases that did not have a population of half a thousand would survive such a threat to their lives?

Such worries hung heavily on Aila as the base she was establishing was smaller in numbers and she was not confident that they would be able to build enough fire power to face these troubles in time. Fate is a playful mistress, no matter how much she prepares and anticipates the dangers ahead, it always gives the most nasty surprise in unexpected times. Something Aila deeply wishes would not play into their lives when they are still quite too weak to face their enemies.

Another worry of Aila was that their geographical area was really a good place for mutant animals now that she had time to explore. The mountains no doubt have some dangerous animals that may threaten them, while the lake nearby is a huge attraction for the birds in season to stay for a good rest and dinner. She did not know if she should be thinking of how to contain the threat in their lives or would she pave the way for peaceful coexistence with these wild, beautiful, and dangerous creatures.

Though using the proposal that Aila had discussed with Jerome awhile ago can keep the problem at bay, Aila is not at ease with just that as a countermeasure. Not to mention, the crystals needed for its work are not enough to support it all year round. Higher level crystals are for long term use, but gathering enough of this supply is hard and painful to harvest. Zombies of higher levels are harder to beat and not to mention tricky to deal with.

“To live is really hard.” Aila said absent-mindedly as she looked at the ever darkened sky of winter. “Was I too wicked when I was writing that?”

As there was no answer to her question, Aila only shook her head and left the gymnasium. The rest of the evening was not so interesting as it ended as peacefully as it could have.

The next morning was not the same as the day before.

Aila had anticipated that throughout the whole winter, something would probably happen and would cause a little chaos for them. Evident with the worried face of Cindy when she came to her the first thing in the morning, things are a big deal somehow.

“Young miss, there were problems with the confined zombies.” Cindy reported with a grim face. “Apparently one of the loved ones of the turned zombies went in and let themselves be eaten. The incident itself was worrying and alarming, but we had no lead in what prompted them to be so impulsive in doing something so idiotic.”

There were some faces that came to Aila's mind when she heard about that. And thinking for a moment of its feasibility, she was convinced that Gerald and those bastard friends of his had designed this whole thing. No wonder that guy left so eagerly back then. They might have thought that if everyone here became a zombie overnight, they could plunder the whole base along with the then ownerless supplies and equipment they had.

To confirm her conjuncture, she asked if the victims were somehow close or had some relationship with Gerald for a period of time. And lo and behold, it was indeed that guy’s handwriting. When he returns to the base to get their expected gains, she and the others will beat them so hard and throw them at the zombies with their limbs tied tightly. Let them know the horrors that might have happened to them if the zombies spread in the base unknowingly.

“I’ll kill him myself when I see him again.” Bella said when Aila told them of the issue that came to her early this morning. “I was an i***t to let him jump around like that.”

Currently, the hyenas are mobilizing their forces to search for any zombies that may have slipped past the areas they should be in. The patrol team has to be dispatched all over to search for every crook and nanny of the whole base just to be sure that there is no danger for the rest of the populace.

Those who had zombies for loved ones were detained for good measure, which they cooperatively did so in good faith. It was already a great concession that Aila and the hyenas had not killed their zombie loved ones the first time they arrived at the base. To reward their good behavior, Aila stated that she would uphold her promise when the zombies were first isolated.

At the west entrance they found some zombies wandering under the walls. It was a good thing that none of them had yet to consume human flesh, judging from their still clean mouths and clothing. Under some consideration, they only catch them then place them back in the detention area where they were formerly placed. Although keeping in an isolated area is not a longtime solution for these infected, Aila has stated that as long as they have not eaten flesh they will be kept under control. For everyone's safety and the majority's demands, the patrols could only follow her instructions, so far they did not find themselves in trouble doing what they were told.

As for those who have already acquired a taste of human flesh, they are killed without mercy. No matter how much some of the still-human loved ones begged them not to, they had to do their task of keeping their base safe. Tears flowed from the base as some of the unfortunate had to personally eliminate the undead they did their best to keep despite everything.

“Who!” One of the crying loved ones cried out as she cradled the remains of her son. “Just who had the idea of using our unfortunate loved ones? I want them dead!”

Her sentiments rang soundly to those who were in the same position as her. All of them have made a pact that under great effort they will not do anything that will give the base a reason to eliminate their people. They personally monitored each other to make sure no one would make a mistake and doom their fallen ones.

Under their joint efforts, for so long, the zombies are quiet and behave under this arrangement. They are content to visit them from time to time, giving them a part of their enhancers just to have a sense that their children, lovers, partners are still with them. Making them have a mentality that their loved ones are just in rehabilitation or in a prison. Although not the best illusion to calm their minds, this was the best mindset to have just not to make them go crazy.

“We have yet to conduct an investigation regarding this.” Alexa stepped forward as she was the nearest one to the grieving mother. “As much as we want to address your grievances, we have to dispose of your child’s body. After everything else is done, we will try our best to give you the answers you seek.”

Understanding the truth in Alexa’s words, the woman begged for a few more moments to be with her child. Giving her permission, Alexa explained that the child would be cremated. After she is done with her farewells, Alexa advises the woman to find something to store her child’s ashes. As they don’t have a ready made urn, Alexa apologies if the request was weird and abrupt.

The woman knows that no one had foreseen this to happen. So she nodded at Alexa and called upon one of her closest friends to retrieve a jar from where she was staying. It was not the best container to place her child’s ashes, but she knows the scarcity of their supplies, so she has to make do for now. Maybe at a later time she will find something else to place the ashes. Until then, the ashes will remain in such crude containers for now.

Aila organised the cremations of the slayed zombies. Thankfully, they had some fire ability users who could do the job. Due to the time restraints, she has to call Eugene to make a temporary metal box where the corpses will be burned. Solemnly, they did the whole process as fast as they could, without any ceremonies or sorts for the dead. If everyone was not grieving and suffering from the effects of the apocalypse, perhaps this would make some people upset.

But the people on their base know that doing the formalities will only waste time and resources. They accept the reality that having the rites performed is only a luxury they cannot afford. It was already good that their loved ones were respected enough to be cremated and given a chance to be treated like a human. Other zombies they are now, their fate as one guarantees that they will be left where they are slain and left to rot in normal cases.

Although the whole base was gloomy over what had happened, everyone tried to act as normal as they could. Though the bitten and wounded had to be isolated to be treated, everybody was doing their best to make things right. Because the dead will remain dead, the living should keep moving forward and not waste their lives in their past.

“The apocalypse has never been kind and will never be kind.” Aila had sighed as human tenacity forced people to keep moving forward no matter the pain. “This tragedy was something we had no control over at all.”

The hyenas were beside her as she said those words listlessly. Each of them had a thoughtful expression that Aila had not noticed at all.