May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 20: Dragging them in

After that night, everyone was convinced of Aila’s claims and made their respective preparations for the upcoming apocalypse. They were quite impressed with the things Aila had hoarded in her backyard alongside her sustainable plans for them to live as comfortably as possible at the time of the end.

The hyenas asked Aila if it was okay to share the information with a small number of people. They meant some of the people they are quite close with and some members of their family whom they trusted enough to keep mum on most things. In their opinion, they deserved to know what is to come for all.

Aila has no problems with them sharing the news with others. Especially to those people her friends were so concerned about. These same people were the few who tried their best to make sure they had some space to grow in the chaotic time in her past life. On the virtue of their good characters, she also wanted them to live well as well.

So they gave her approval of their request while giving them precautions about certain people who will bring them problems. People whom they trusted and had mercilessly betrayed them when they were already so down.

Aila was holding back on her warnings though. Although she knew who would betray and hurt them, after some deliberations she decided to let some people who betrayed them scott-free for now. People like Liza’s current boyfriend, that guy has other dirt she could use to make him stay away from them.

Geoffry was a man who was good at hiding his nature under his gentlemanly persona. Aila used to think he was the perfect man for her friend, but it turns out he was a cheater who had someone else behind Liza’s back. He was only with Liza to get some benefits and has always been disgusted at Liza’s active and showy affection for him.

Aila does not want to give the man an easy way out. Thus, she has opted out of telling her friends about Geoffry’s fault.She wants to make the man bloom and cause problems for them, giving her legitimate reasons to eliminate the man in cold blood like she has been wishing to do for a very long time. Or at least wait until the apocalypse to fully descend so that she can be as lawless and kill the guy without backlash from the public.

After all, lesser men kill people without any reason in the darkest time of humanity.

But doing this did not give her much pleasure as much as she was itching to do so. Thinking how much he had beguiled her friend, she wanted Liza herself to unmask that man. And in the process, she lets that man know that he has done something incredibly stupid by targeting one of them.

The man was reliant on Liza for the many things he had now. Liza, for the most part, is a good lover who respects her partner to grow and explore his ideas and goals, therefore giving the man convenience for him to do as he wanted. It might sound bad to the ear, but Liza is more like a sugar mommy to the guy than a precious lover.

When the apocalypse came back in her previous life, Geoffry took advantage of how indulgent and trusting Liza was to build his image in the turbulent era. He took Liza’s connections while making her unable to connect to her family in time. They wouldn't have become nomads after they left the place Felix found for them if it wasn’t for the traitor. Because no matter how Liza was treated in the family, she was part of them. Therefore, she is not allowed to suffer with them around. It was a safe haven for them all.

But it was around this time that Geoffrey's lover crossed paths with them. Due to how vigilant Albert was about Liza's partners, he had more or less known the guy’s affairs during that time. Afraid to be found out, he schemed to get them all sought by a mob of zombies. It was a desperate attempt of the man to keep himself clean and have a legitimate reason to be with his lover.

Thankfully, due to the buff the world gave to Aila, they all survived the whole ordeal. Though in exchange for that, survival was the shattering of Liza’s heart.

To prevent that from happening, Aila has spent her little free time this past month stalking the man. She was more or less aware of his schedule and was planning to set up Liza to find the man and his lover in the act. This way, Geoffry will not be able to gain the connections Liza will provide for him when the apocalypse comes, making him unable to survive at the first outbreak of the apocalypse.

Currently, Aila was giving them a tour of the facilities she had ordered to be made or done all over her property. She even told them of her plans to have her villa walled even more. Something about taking precautions when the tides come and disturb their lives.

Her parents uncharacteristically left them alone as they excused themselves for professional reasons. Aila could only bid them a nice trip as they hurried out of the villa. Because no matter how hard they try to hide it, the reason why they left was related to her. She is not so blind to not seeing the determination that burns inside their eyes.

“Is it okay if I bring my family here when the time comes, Aila?” Jerome asked, as he found himself unable to let his family suffer.

“I have no objection to bringing your family members here, Jerome. But there is no need for you to worry about them too much.” Aila said to the other. “They are one of the families that has built a base. They are more or less capable of living well without you dragging them here.”

“Cool.” Jerome was amazed at the information and no longer bothered Aila with his concerns. It was enough for him to know that they would be fine even if they were not with him. Although he is concerned about their being, he generally does not like to be in the same room with them as much as he can. He could already hear the trouble his siblings would be making, his parents expressing their disappointment with him at every turn, his grandparents dictating his every action.... he just cannot imagine living more years like that.

“Seems that you really thought the best you can to provide as much as you could.” Travis said as he found a manual on how to make paper from scratch, no doubt thinking this will be a toilet paper replacement when the time comes. With factories going down, it is no doubt they had to find some alternatives when they ran out of these daily necessities.

“Well, there is a widespread scarcity of materials and resources when the social order collapses completely,” Aila said with dismissal in her tone. She doesn't want to talk about the inconveniences they suffered in their previous lives. Especially when girls had their period, it was a mad carnival during those red days on the top of undead going at them like sharks sensing blood.

That time was really hell, so she was determined to give them a home to not experience them again.

“But I wonder if there is something else we can do to contribute to this home you are building.” Alexa said, as she sees there is nothing much they can do to do something for this place they will call home.

“Oh, believe me, there are plenty.” Aila said as she led them to her room where she stayed up late to organise.

In her room was a wall full of notes of what issues their home would have to address before they would be self-sufficient in her option. Each of them were interconnected with each other and among them were marks of what she had already done and was not. So far, she has been focused on the sustainability issue and the issues of security and others have not done much. The walls were not enough for protection, nor would they really shelter them then in the latter period of apocalypse.

“See here.” Aila pointed out a particular note about their security. “Although I had high plans for our security, my efforts were not enough to get everything done. The walls I planned will not help us in the long run. On the contrary, it can cause us trouble when enemies use the skies to harm us.”

“What do you mean, Aila?” Felix asked as he was fiddling with a note that was labelled to be brought for later.

“Some time after the apocalypse, the evolution of humanity will be rapid.” Aila was having a headache as she struggled with how to explain the situation as concisely as possible. “I mentioned the evolution of animals and plants last night, right? Humans who failed the evolution were those zombies who lived despite the fact they had lost the vital signs of living. Think of those in bad horror movies and of the video games that involve the undead. Other than that, it was another evolution for humanity which has rendered people to have abilities like those fantasy stories.”

“You mean we can become like supermen or something?” Eugene asked with an unnatural expression on his face.

Aila glanced at Eugene as a particular memory came to mind.

“Yes, something like that.” Aila said as she understood what Eugene was thinking as he mentioned Superman. “Don’t worry, Superman doesn’t need to wear underwear outside our clothing to use them in the future.”

“I am not thinking of that!” Eugene was blushing as Aila said her piece.

Everyone gave a sympathetic gaze as his issues with Superman were being pointed out. It was a traumatizing thing to see and think of things you used to enjoy as a kid with the eyes of an adult. It hit Eugune especially hard as he shed his childhood innocence quite later than most. It has ruined his well-maintained facade of a happy childhood, thus ruining most of his cherished experiences as others slap them in his face.

Seeing how embarrassed and red Eugene was, Aila did not continue the topic and made them focus on the things she wrote. Instead of making others uncomfortable, this is a more hard-pressed issue to address. Much to the relief of Eugune, others are no longer focusing on him.

“I want us to think about how to solve these issues as much as we can.” Aila says to her friends. There are plenty more problems that she knows her friends are aware of tackling other than the ones she wrote on the walls.

On a section of the huge mess of brainstorming ideas she had addressed on the walls was a countdown scribble that marks the outbreak of the apocalypse. Absent-mindedly, she reached out and touched the date of today. There are only six months or so before everything will head for the worst. Will it be truly enough to do everything they need to live?

Six months is both a long time and a short time. There were mountains they had to do before she would have an answer if the time was enough to arm themselves. For now, she really needs her friends’ help to at least ensure their survival in the early apocalypse.