May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 38: A child

For Aila, her disposing of some zombies is only a small episode of her life. But for other people, encountering a zombie is simply a nightmare to behold. Screams of pain, sadness and despair were prevalent as the horror of the infected had turned into a zombie apocalyptic doomsday foretold jokingly by some conspiracy theories.

The whole city was simply unable to sleep well because the government had already understood they couldn't hide the information any longer. Overnight, an officer officially gave a statement on the local channels about the existence of zombies. Warning their people to stay indoors and that they should ration their supplies until they send forces to do clean-ups and rescue if necessary.

The news scared many people as expected, but the LGU was clever enough to give precautions and some instructions for the people of the city. They assured them as much as possible. Save their food so that it can last until the soldiers come rescue them. And if possible, they should drink enough supplements or exercise enough to not weaken their body, giving caution to them that those who are weak in body are prone to become zombies.

Other than that, they urge those who are unfortunately bitten or wounded by the zombies to be isolated tightly to where they are. It could be a room where only the wounded are inside, a small hole can be used to give them food and water. But they are ultimately not allowed to roam wherever they are. After those whose bodies cannot take the virus, these people are next to become zombies. For the safety of everyone, they are better isolated in case they get in danger.

And should they find themselves in front of a zombie or they find a zombie, they should do their best to flee if they cannot fight them. It would be best if the zombie was destroyed. But the priority is the safety of oneself at all times.

Aila and her parents only found the news at noon the day after.. They continue driving farther away from the city itself. As soon as Stephen woke up, he drove with his family from the park and made their way to their destination as planned. The RV lacked nothing for them at the moment. But that does not mean it will not cause some inconveniences. For example, the fuel they had, Stephen was sure that the one on the tank would not supply them with the needed amount to bring them to their ancestral land.

Though Judith has some spares in her space, Stephen would like to use them as a last resort to all last resort. He supposed they could go to the nearest stations to refuel their tanks as soon as possible.

In ordinary times, he might not think much about things like fuel as they are easily accessible, but currently they are at the beginning of the end. There will be a shortage of things in the future and he knew it so well. So he wanted to save as much as he could.

Stephen had heard that Travis was also a space supernaturalist and the amount he could store was bigger than his wife’s. If the boy was with them, he did not mind if he could use some money on the road to buy all the gas from the gas stations they would pass by. At the moment, money still has its use and he can use it carelessly at the moment without any worries now, after all these numbers and papers will lose their value. So why not use them as much as possible?

But sadly, the boy was still in the city and he could not be with them until later, after they were done dealing with their side. Who made the other time-traveler do so many things that destroyed their well-made plans? It might take some days before they will all gather in the villa.

Finding a station, Stephen parked the RV with the intention of filling the tank. But who would have thought that there were plenty of zombies here? From what he could understand, from the strains he could see on the ground, when the outbreak happened, there was panic and those inside the station's store were trapped and were effectively consumed by the infected, judging from the missing flesh he could see in them.

The moment he opened the door, several zombies turned in his direction of the small convenience store. At the drop of a pin, they gathered in his direction. However, with the glass separating them, they were unable to get near him temporarily.

"Well, it looks like we have quite a job before us, dad." Aila said as she fearlessly stepped out of the van.

Glaring at the nonchalance that his child was displaying, Stephen instructed his wife not to get out. Resigned to the fact that his child was too in-tuned with the bloodthirst that was within their blood. At some point, he just allowed his daughter to do things as she liked.

The past few stops had made him notice the eager hands of his daughter wanting to eliminate the former humans. And all he could say was that his daughter was really a messy killer if she turned out to be a murderer. She had the habit of splashing her opponent’s blood all over. If there is spare time, he would like to correct this practice of hers. It would not do well if she just kept leaving traces like these in the future.

He surveyed the area before he filled the tank full. Aila helped herself to the small convenience store, while Judith stayed in the RV. His wife was not adjusting well to the gory sight they had been at since the first time they had encountered that bitten woman in the beginning of their journey.

“Aila, when do you think those friends of yours will join us?” Stephen said as the tank was filled with enough diesel for continued road driving.

“Three days at most,” Aila said as she fished her phone from her pocket. “They were already on the way, saying that last night was chaotic enough for them to sneak away and clean their tails. For good measure, they even faked their death so that there would be fewer problems in the future. The way out of the city was their biggest problem as the security was heightened even more just after we left the city.”

“You think we could stay here and wait for them in this place?” Stephen said, as he wanted to use the generator to charge the RV’s battery. They are running out of electricity even if they use it as sparingly as they can. The solar panel was no use as the days were unfortunately cloudy and shady. And the electricity charged when driving is too small to keep up with the demand. Although there will be no problem going on for two to four more days with their current consumption, he just did not like the feeling of uncertainty on the road. After all, they need to stay somewhere to wait for the kids to join them.

“We can’t stay here dad.” Aila shook her head at her father’s idea. “This place is too dangerous to stay in. At the moment, there are still a small number of people leaving the city for survival, but that does not mean they will not increase in the future. Not to mention men who are mixed might stay here, but although we have enough ammo and power, we cannot fight in numbers should they be in a larger group than us. Temporary maybe, but we cannot stay for long. Not to mention, the concentration of zombies here is much larger than anticipated.”

“Pity. We will not be having problems with electricity for a while if we stay here.” Stephen sighs as he looks for somewhere he could charge their vehicle for an hour at least. This will at least appease his anxiety for a while.

Aila took an hour break to survey the area for any more zombies to kill. She felt so rusty when she killed some of them, she wanted to practice more so that it would be less messy. She knows the appearance of her father whenever she messily slaughters some undead to know that he does not like her messy habit.

Just as going back to the RV after she saw no more zombies to kill, she heard a cry from one of the parked cars on the station. Curiously, Aila went to the source of the noise and saw a small child of three on the back of a bus. It was a wonder how the child survived in a zombie-infected place, but she just took this as something that was simply fated. She approached the child as gently as she could and carried him off of the bus.

“Aila, what is that?” Judith said as she saw the terrified child in Aila's arms.

“A survivor mom.” Aila said as she entertained the child as much as she could to avoid him crying again. With her other hand, she gave him the same water from the unopened bottle of water she found in the store. “He was on that bus over there, he might have been quite mischievous before the people here got infected and started killing each other. That he was pretty well hidden in the compartment he hid in. If we were a few hours late or we left so fast, he might have died from being eaten or from starvation and dehydration.”

“Give him to me.” Judith said as she skillfully held the child in her arms. “You did a good job holding on, my boy. What do you say coming with us? We have food and water on us. And later on, we’ll be in a safe place where there will be no more monsters like those that will ever hurt you.”

The child did not fully understand Judith's words, but he could feel the good intentions they had towards him. So he smiled at the woman holding him and fell asleep in their warmth. Not doubting that this is the safest he could ever be in this nightmarish world has turned into in his young and short life.