May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 53: Protagonist—His Blunder

The cities nowadays are a hell now that a few months have already passed by since the time zombies started appearing. In the city B Aila and her loved ones once lived in, things are indeed better, but not really.

Alfred was dealing with the management of the city to be his very own base. Living here for months now, he did not understand how this place became an abandoned land during his past life. There are plenty of resources to use and the geographical area is suitable enough for long survivability in times of apocalypse.

There is a decent distance from the city to the sea and there is a mountain in a few kilometers they could go at will for resources. Not to mention, the place has some people that weigh heavily even when placed in the capital. With their presence and authority, they could take advantage of the place and strive well.

But seeing that they abandoned this place in a previous life, he is more or less not guilty of taking over this place. The mayor was surprisingly easy to use after the apocalypse has come to develop in the horrifying form it is now. It might be the disappearance of his son that he was this dispirited and Alfred was more than eager to take advantage of him.

From the rumours and whispers Alfred had heard, Albert, the son of the mayor, had died during a stampede in the mall area when they were escaping. Alfred never believed this because he knew that Albert was a prominent person in the future. It is simply impossible for him to die so early and so easily. From what he understood, the boy had just used the chaos to escape from everything, something that he anticipated when he looked into the blazing fire inside his measured eyes.

Albert Harrison is not dead. And Alfred is not in a hurry to fetch the guy who refuses to be one of his people. With how dangerous things are, one way or another, the boy will return to this place sometime in the future.

Calling upon the forces he had cultivated for at least two years just for this moment, Alfred began his plans for the biggest problem that humanity has to face in the first year of apocalypse.

Long Winter.

In the apocalypse, the weather is moody and no doubt confusing. But this is the most normal thing in this time period. The most abnormal one was the changes in seasons that greatly killed people.

Spring and Autumn were greatly shortened. They last as short as a month and the longest is a month and a half. Then the remaining days were divided into a very long winter and a very scorching extended summer.

At first, this was not noticed at all. Everyone was busy surviving in the first days that they did not notice these changes. It was only when the winter set in that they knew that the climate had changed so much.

It was like the ice age all over again.

Only during this time was the sun not at all visible in the sky and was hidden by thick clouds. Crazy blizzards and the lack of food and heat has forced humanity to resort to extreme measures, such as risking travelling out to find food in the white world outside. The first mutant animals saved the stomachs of the humans, but this paid a heavy price in return.

There are plenty of horrors that happened during this period and Alfred does not want to recall them at all. He has no power to prevent those things from happening, but he can assure that his people will not be forced into that situation. He has prepared enough and sacrificed enough to build his utopia that he is not willing to let things turn like that.

Perhaps the only good thing about winter is that the zombies have little activity during this time. Most of the undead became ice sculptures and immobile during this time, so they do not need to worry about them. If they are also part of the terror of winter, humanity does not have a year before all of them will perish from this earth.

“....sir, we have already stored enough supplies to last a few years with our current population. Likewise, we also have enough manpower to send people out when needed.” His underling reported.

“Good. Anything else that stood out in this place?”

“There is one indeed, sir.” Said his secretary, who gave him a tablet to see his report. “This was sent to me a few days ago and I sent people to see its validity. Unlike the other places here, this particular piece of urban garden shows no signs of pollution or mutations of sorts. Up until now, the community that was living there has been relying on their produce to eat well all this time.”

Alfred was shocked when he read this report and doubts kept rising in his mind. Such a good thing, what has happened in the past that this was not known at all?

The report states a place where the plants still grow naturally without any change at all. It should be noted that ever since that rain, which did not stop for seven days, the plants have changed and become another enemy of humanity. They either become poisonous or carnivores. A piece of harmless plant is almost so rare that only those they had saved from before were left.

Only plant abilities can grow seeds into mature plants to be consumed. As the world has turned hostile to its creatures, this piece of land is an Eden that everyone will long for. Alfred had to get it in his hands before others took it and ruin this god-given grace.

“Who is in-change in that place?” Alfred immediately made inquiries.

“It was Lieutenant DeClaire sir.” The secretary replied. “He was the one who had voluntarily asked to be posted there. Something about his younger cousin’s friends is most likely to appear here, so he made an initiative to stay in the area.”

“Friends?” Alfred had a weird gut feeling that this place was very important to him. Similar when he talked and interacted with that friend of Albert Harrison, intimate and eerily tempting to him. “Was the name Aila one of those friends?”

His secretary showed a surprised face before saying indeed there was one Aila mentioned by the Lieutenant. This made Alfred feel something inside of him that he wanted to immediately grab it and not lose it again. But he restrained the sudden impulse that arose inside of him.

“Call Lieutenant DeClaire. I want to have a conference with him.” Alfred instructed. “Bring him to my studies later, not in my office. I have some questions to ask him.”

His secretary nodded as he took note of it. Afterwards, Alfred spent an hour more finalizing the work he had for the day. There are some more he has to see, but he will see it for another day. Although he likes everything to be under his control, he knows he cannot hole up there. For him to have a better grasp of things, he has to show his face in the open once in a while. This will allow people to know his appearance and not confuse themselves with scammers.

He then inspected the inventories like an obsessed man. Living for so long at the end of time, anyone will more or less have some obsessions with their supplies. Although he has hoarded so many inside of his space, he still cannot stop himself from obsessing on those he places out in the open.

When he was more or less satisfied with his inspection of the supplies, he then went on to the soldiers who were being trained by their superiors. Alfred had the mind to make the civilians have some military training to increase their forces. But the military also has their pride. Unless they are truly small in number and in a dire state, they will not easily allow outsiders to join their ranks.

As a veteran, Alfred was willing to change the rules for everyone's overall betterment. Currently, he still cannot do much as the military is still maintaining a status quo. Maybe next year, after the winter, the old fellows will take the initiative to allow the civilians to join them. At that time, he can provide some assistance and other compensation for his behavior as a fisherman.

It was already evening when he was done with his ‘tour’. He originally wanted to go to the community where plants still grow normally. As the news is still kept under wraps, he cannot carelessly go there and let others occupy this piece of meat. Not to mention the residents were tough people too. For some reason, there are many supernaturalists there and they are way too protective of their homes. Maybe they know the value of what their little garden has, so that they are very cautious in regards to strangers.

Going to his room, he freshens himself and changes into more comfortable clothes. Materializing a bottle of wine from his space as well as some wine glasses, he waited for Lieutenant DeClaire to arrive.

A knock sounded out in his quiet room. Alfred opened the door and saw a rigid man upon his doorstep.

“Someone told me you wanted to talk with me.” The soldier said.

Alfred let him in and led him to the study at the side of his room. He gestured to him and asked him what he wanted to drink. The soldier only replied water before cutting the chase and asked what he was called for.

“There was a report that said you wanted to stay in one particular area to wait for your nephew to appear.” Alfred said as he materialized a bottle of water and poured it into a glass on the side table. “I want to know more about this friend that was mentioned by my secretary.”

“Why would I answer that?” The Lieutenant asked with a startled tone.

“I heard there was an Aila among those friends of that nephew of yours. I just want to make sure this Aila is the same as the Aila your nephew knows.” Alfred gave the water to the Lieutenant.

“Aila? You know Aila Justine?” The Lieutenant has some doubt that this ‘leader’ actually has some connection to that polite yet eerie girl.

“Indeed it is the same name.” Alfred felt excitement as he came across some clues about the girl. “She was also a friend of Albert Harrison, the mayor’s son. I met her through him.”

“Albert. There was indeed an Albert among Felix’s friends but I never knew he was the child of the mayor.” The soldier suddenly had a look of understanding, as if he understood something that was bugging him after so long.

“You never knew about Albert’s identity?” Alfred asked. “It is quite unbelievable that you do not know about him.”

“Well, other than Aila, none of my nephew’s friends ever told me of their last names. Hearing that Albert was actually someone from a political family, I understand that none of them are actually not so simple.” The soldier only said and did not mention more about them.

“Why are you so sure they will appear in this particular place?” Alfred did not mind the other not saying more about his nephew and his friends. Instead he wanted to know what is so special about the area.

“Well, Aila lives in that community,” DeClaire said. “According to their usual way of getting along, one way or another they will check upon each other before they leave or do something drastic. They are thick as thieves. None of them will leave until everyone is on board.”

Alfred suddenly had a feeling that this soldier’s nephew and his friends were somehow very familiar to a certain group of people in his past life. If his hunch is correct, then he is damned for being too complacent about his life. Alfred and his friends are those Hyenas from his past life. And from how annoyed the boy was with him, the whole group might already have a not annoyed impression of him.

Lieutenant DeClaire talked of friends which had made Alfred subconsciously connect him to the nine people who bore grudges on his back in time. If they are indeed long-time friends and they somehow did something like this in their previous lives too, perhaps it can explain a few things known about their group. Like how protective they are of their own people. Humanity be damned, as long as the one they cared about is well, they will allow the world to burn for all to see.

He had seen it in action before and with how fiercely Albert cared about Aila he would make sure that the rest of his friends would be alerted about him. The hidden gleam in the boy's eyes had told him that much. It did not sit well with Alfred that the herd of Hyenas of his past life might no longer have the possibility to be in his hands,and all this had happened under his very nose (—he was so blind to even consider that, at the very start, the Hyenas had already had known each other way before the catastrophe has descended). With the decisive way Albert had cut himself out of his family’s control, it is estimated that they were long gone before he had placed a monitor on him.

If that is the case, then Afred could only helplessly prepare for whatever hostility they will bear against him now. He regrets not investigating more. That caused him to miss those people who could make a difference on the base he built. But realising this, he no longer has to care about their survival for now.

With their abilities, he does not doubt their survival if they are the immature version of the figures that antagonised him back then. Though Alfred has to be careful of what he will do from now on if he somehow offended Albert and his friends this time around. In his last life he does not know how he made them angry at him. This time he wants to do a better job and build a bridge between their parties.

He cannot help but laugh at himself when this matter comes to a conclusion. Life really has some way to keep him in check. He had come back in time but he still had some nemesis to watch out for. Quite a fool he has become because of his own arrogance.

“What is so funny?” The Lieutenant asked with a frown.

“Nothing.” Alfred only smiled bitterly at the realization. “I’m afraid that your nephew is no longer in the city. From your description, they long left without anyone noticing and caring about where they are. You may not know this as you are only here for two months at most, but the mayor was distraught about the disappearance of his only son. As Albert is someone I know who is not easy to submit to circumstances, he might have left the city with his friends during that time. Quite a group of slimy eels they are.”

“What do you mean!” The officer was distraught as he heard this. Anxiety was all over his face, from what Alfred could see. From was very worried about his nephew.

“I mean you are late sir. Your dearest nephew and his friends have slipped out of our reach.” Alfred pointed out. “And I am a fool for not realizing it so early.”