May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 72: Unexpected

Aila volunteered to get out of the RV to open the gates of the community. They were given the keys for safe entry and for cases like what they are in. They need legitimate reasoning to get inside without actually alerting them to the presence hiding in the dark.

Though Aila knew that doing something like this was a waste of time and utterly idiotic.

Jerome was a gentleman and he did not like ladies endangering themselves more than necessary. So he took a firm stance and did not allow Aila to get out and instead did it himself. Travis was with him about his decision, so Aila did not have any protest as she knew not to fight a losing battle.

Getting inside the community was as smooth as it could be. There were no people inside, consistent with the Ferrers who were at their base. And there are indeed many facilities here that are comparable to a sustainable green city. Well, that family has plans to make a luxury, sustainable green city for years now. Therefore, it is not really a surprise their own place was modeled on such a theme. And with such a complete community area, Aila felt it was a waste to truly abandon this place just so easily.

Aila had plans to make their base like this at first. But due to not having enough time for preparation, she cannot do it at all. First is that it will take years of planning and professional manpower for the fields each facility is involved in. If she had carelessly applied her forceful wants and waywardly built a facility like an oil station, for example inside the community, there might be some incidents that would endanger them more than the external threats to their lives. Oil spill or leakage is a serious danger that is hard to defend against. Thus, the reason she just built what she has access to and not go through this particular plan before.

“This place is rather cozy,” Travis said as he noted the structure of a small self-sufficient community. “ Living here is a little better than the base you made.”

Aila was already upset about that fact and when Travis pointed it out, she just sported a gloomy face as her mind worked overtime. Silently she is scheming how to somehow get this place theirs. She is definitely taking this as a slight she should not let go.

“Whatever you are scheming, we have many things to do.” Jerome said as he saw that evil brewing inside of Aila’s eyes. “Billy, can you please close the gates? Just press the button on the side, I already registered our biometrics when you guys placed a hand on the panel a while ago.”

“Okay.” Billy was obedient as he did as he was told, but his eyes were fierce as he saw some movements in the distance. “They are getting bolder.”

“Just don’t mind them for now,” Jerome says as he takes out the list that was given to them. He murmurs a little about what they should get first. Seeing him undecided, Travis pulled the guy to the side as he gave a look at the rest of the team to explore for a while. Jerome, being undecided, is a very obsessive and paranoid man. Being near him is just asking to be tortured mentally.

Aila, thinking that she does not want to be in the vicinity as Jerome’s illness takes over, escapes along with the others. Though she proposes everyone to be careful in their steps and that they should separate for better coverage. The team were more or less used to Aila’s attitude and usual treatment of them, and had no problem with her instructions.

Aila first went to the large convenience store. It was a puzzle why it was big in the first place, as the whole place is privatized and the population here is quite small. But thinking about the usual practices of the Ferrers, she decided not to think about it. They are eccentric like that and there is no merit in thinking deeper about what is on their minds. Else they would know better not to engage any member of the Justine Family for something so trivial if they don't want to be retaliated in the worst of ways.

But maybe, due to their wealth and power, they are justified in acting like this. With money at hand, it is not surprising for people to turn willful and do as they want. It was just that Aila didn't care to dig deeper into the ditch of that family.

Getting inside the mini-mall, Aila saw that there were indeed more supplies there than expected. There is almost everything here and there will be no problem using them for a long time, especially the preserved foods. Only that she needs to open the doors wide to let out the stink of something rotten. The increase in temperature and the cutting of electricity supply before the ones who stayed here left has truly spoiled the meat products here. Truly a waste of good food for them.

Just as she was thinking of letting the electricity flow once again on the cable before she went inside the grocery area, Aila noticed the presence of zombies inside of one of the houses nearby. She stopped all her initial thinking, before choosing to eliminate the zombies she saw. Besides, she needs to air the mall first before she can get inside, choosing so is rather a sane and obvious decision for her currently.

At first she thought it was a normal zombie inside, but she was wrong when she found them. Using the binoculars, she looked at the windows of the houses and saw them.

They were distinctly less human and more of an abomination of meshed rotten flesh. One of them is pale green in color, while the other was earthen in color. They were placed in two different rooms and she was pretty sure those two had at least eaten one human, judging from their excitement when they sensed her presence.

“This is troublesome.” Aila said as she called reinforcements to her side. She might be experienced at

dealing with zombies, but she cannot take on two level three zombies alone. Especially when they are zombies with abilities.

Everyone came running the moment she said her piece. They knew the danger of zombies that are on the high side of power. They only met one that was classified as level two, but it took them so much effort to subdue it. It was under the leadership of Bella that it was made possible and she was not there.

"—how the hell did something like these zombies come here?!" Travis exclaimed in the walkie-talkie. "How come there are people in those houses? There is no such thing as what those guys told us!"

"—we're also children of the rich, it is not a surprise if there are some of them hiding in their private residences without notifying others of their stay.” Jerome was unexpectedly sharp in his words. “ It can be said these people were here way before the apocalypse and those who left here just did not know of them staying here. That said, we cannot rule out the possibility that there are other zombies in the vicinity that were left undetected by our guests.”

“—will you guys leave the analysis for later?!” Aila exclaimed as one of the zombies had already gotten itself out of the house. “—one of them is already free from the house it was in!”

There were more glibbish words after she said her piece, but Aila did not care about them any more. Instead, she lures the zombies into an open space where she can freely move and about, as she awaits her teammates to arrive and come to her rescue. Finally, she stopped at the park where the space is relatively wide enough for her to jump around.

Aila then faced the green-hued zombie. On closer look, it still retained most of its human characteristics, but its limbs were no longer human-like. Its arms were sharp like snapped wood. Its legs no longer have feet to support its weight, instead it is almost root-like, almost like an octopus when it moves.

It was a zombie with plant powers and Aila has to admit she was a little impulsive in choosing the park of all places. It was almost as if she had brought the zombie to its home court despite having fewer plants in the park. If she has the power of fire, she really wants to burn this troublesome thing until even ashes will no longer be recognizable.

Aila does not have any particular problem with the disadvantage she has currently, only that she is annoyed with her wasting her stamina on an endeavor she should avoid at all cost. As Jerome has pointed out, most people who lived in this place are rich, therefore there is a huge percentage that there are few more hidden dangers such as the ones she has already found. And for more unexpected events, Aila wants to save as much energy as she can.

Luring the zombie to a pavilion, Aila uses the terrain to temporarily stall the undead. She collapsed a portion of the roof using her gun to delay it as much as she could before darting to another area to let it chase her more. Once in a while she aimed for it when she could.

“—how long will you guys take to get in here?” Aila managed to slip her hands to her walkie-talkie to communicate with her teammates.

“—I'm now close to there!” Billy said as Aila saw the guy’s silhouette in the distance.

“—A few more minutes on my side!” Jerome said as there were crashes in the background. “I met a brownie guy here, I might take a while to help out there.”

The rest of the team gave a quick overview of their general location before Aila decisively made an impromptu change of plans. Those nearer to Jerome will head there as he is also on a tightrope and those near to her will be assisting her. And just as she was about to talk some more, the zombie she was engaging was getting near to her, so she cut their talks before she once again bolted to some other place.

This time she took the guy to the small artificial pond. Billy was nearer there and she wanted the chances of disposing of this guy to be greater. Other than Billy, there are two other members of their team heading here to give back up. For that alone, Aila has to make sure they are visible enough to be seen by them.

So when they are all assembled, Aila consciously steps aside to avoid being a casualty when they start using their abilities. Though it was no surprise that most people in her team were supernaturalists, she really did not know where she had gone wrong with them going too crazy when in a combat mood. She wants to blame it on Bella somehow, but it was only her team that is the worst case in all the established groups. Bella’s group were definitely crazy in their own ways, but compared to hers they were a lot tamer.

Maybe she was just so bitter from that last level two incident that she had gotten overboard with her members. She admits went Sparta during training. But she just didn't really expect her people would actually get screwed in the head because of her.

Like at this moment, three flashes of abilities appeared the moment they got into a formation. Next thing was that there was a loud booming sound ringing in the area. Then afterwards was the mass destruction they had caused. Perhaps the only thing Aila was thankful for was that the damage they did was minimal compared to usual. Else it will not be far off that this place will be like those places where a nuclear bomb was dropped.

Aila checked her team for injuries or something. To her relief, there was nothing but a few scratches and she was sure they were the ones who had made it in carelessness. Still, she still told them to clean the wounds, no matter how small, and if possible use some disinfectant on them for safety measures. Resilient a supernaturalist body could be, there is nothing wrong with being cautious.

Just as she was saying so, there was another loud sound in the distance. Indifferently glancing at the origin’s general location, Aila only thought that Jerome and the others were just in time. Earth zombies of higher levels are a menace to deal with and actually taking care of them in record time is an achievement worth bragging about. Though she is not telling the base population of that fact because of s**t and giggles. In her mind she was aiming to make this a norm that outsiders will have a sense of awe towards them and will naturally not carelessly provoke them due to the huge difference of power.

Bella even has her approval of this goal of hers.