May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 78: Zombie Kings

After caring for the women who Aila had given a care, Aila then called her relatives outside the country. She missed her cousins and their antics. And most of all, she cannot shed the worry that is overwhelming her inside.

The situation of relatives outside the country was always uncertain due to distance as well as the fact that news is just too hard to get by. Even in normal times without the barrier of the apocalypse, one cannot help but worry about a loved one abroad. So Aila was always looking forward to connecting with her relatives.

She first called her uncle Martin, who she thinks to be in the most danger. She still had not forgotten that the man's wife was a scheming woman who might actually be planning to murder her husband. Honeylet's information prior to her annulment told them how greedy the woman was. For wealth there is nothing she is not afraid of doing.

Aila bombarded her uncle with reminders as well as some hints in case he would be finally ambushed by his wife. In a time of chaos, that woman can use plenty of coincidence to make things look accidental while garnering sympathy for those unaware of her schemes.

The one who answered her call was not her uncle. Instead, it was her cousin Merlin who took her call. It was a pleasant thing for Aila and Merlin to actually see each other this way after years of being unable to meet each other face-to-face.

“Aila! Long time no see!” Merlin said with a huge grin on his face. His dimple shows in his happiness.

“Great to see you again too, Merls!” Aila cannot help herself from smiling widely. “How are you? Are things not too hard over there? Last I heard from your father was that there was unrest in the base he made.”

“Ah, that one? We were already taken care of.” Merlin said nonchalantly, though his eyes were showing some distress, and Aila knew better that things were not actually so fine.

“What happened over there?” Aila was quick to ask questions. “Where is your father? He was supposed to be the one who could operate this line.”

Merlin was not able to answer questions immediately and this made Aila aware that maybe, despite all the planning and precautions, something had happened to the man. Her uncle was a sentimental man despite being called ruthless and an uncaring businessman. Maybe he softened towards his wife and was taken advantage of in the process. Aila could definitely see that coming.

Sighing a particularly helpless breath, Merlin merely told her that his father was in a coma. He vaguely said the situation in which his own mother had really harmed their family this time around. No matter how unwilling he is to admit that his family is too f****d up to the point of murdering one another, he can’t help venting out his feelings in front of Aila. His young cousin whom he could never treat as someone younger than him.

“I had told him clearly before!” Aila was not able to stop herself from saying those words. “No offense, your mother has really lost sight of herself this time around. If uncle Arthur and my father were there, there is no doubt your mother would be dead the moment the news reaches their ears.”

“I am kind of thankful that none of them are near us currently for that reason alone,” Merlin said with complications deep inside him. “Currently my mother is under strict detention by me. She was not allowed to be in touch with others, nor could she use any of her authority on the base. I wanted to punish her with something heavy, but she is my mother. No matter what happens, I cannot disregard that fact and be so cruel to her. Even if she has almost killed not just our family, but also almost everyone in the safe haven our family has made.”

Aila cannot comment on his choice as she too once took the same stance as a Fortin. Back then, her family had done wrong and she was in the position to hammer down punishment for them. She gave them sanctions, but never a real punishment that could make them be in a hard place. But it did not alleviate her guilt, so she ran away from everything like a coward she was not raised to be.

“I won’t ask for more about your family. But I want to know the general trend in Z country as we speak.” Aila said, as she did Merlin a favor of not discussing the ugly matters in his family.

Merlin was thankful for small mercies and talked in detail about what he had on hand.

According to him, there was a decreasing trend of zombies on the nearby borders of Z country. The phenomenon was first discovered a month ago and the situation has escalated so that most leaders who were preparing for the worst and unexpected scenarios, thought that the world was finally turning to normal. But satellite images say otherwise.

Just three days ago, the zombies that were still within the country’s borders showed an abnormality in movements. They are gathering at a certain place at a visible speed. The large number of said zombies stayed there and never wandered around again. And the thing that made them quite wary about this was that no matter the swarm of zombies coming there, there is no indication of the cluster getting bigger, suggesting that something sinister is happening over there.

“A king was about to be born.” Aila murmured beneath her breath as she listened to the descriptions of what was happening from Merlin. She wrote something like this somewhere in the late stages of her book back then, staging it as a final closure and ending for the story. A zombie king was being fed and protected by the swarm they had found.

The concept of a zombie king had always fascinated Aila back then. So when her turn to write a zombie apocalyptic story came, she made sure this feature was not missing among her troops. Though she based her zombie more on a queen-type insect in the real world wherein the kings in their initial and weakest periods need the protection and nourishment of lower level zombies. She remembered having great fun constructing the mechanics behind the phenomenon of zombie kings and how she at some point wanted to make her protagonist a tragic one, almost making her write a draw between the two with no one living upon the final confrontation.

If she was just not in need of money at that time, she might have ended her novel that way. And as a young author she was back then, she was afraid of being hated by her readers. Readers like happy endings, so she wrote a rather hopeful and optimistic story. But deep inside her notes and her muse’s enlightenment, most of her stories had some tragic undercurrents before she made big changes.

[Humanity’s Last] was no exception. This story was undeniably the cruelest in terms of world building. She remembers having at least one zombie king in each country before the strongest one remained and thoroughly consumed its counterparts. Alfred was supposed to slay was the one in this country in the future, but it does not mean he will be the one to slay the last and strongest. Her book did not portray that and only hinted for detail observant readers. Meaning the danger is not yet over and just looming on the horizon without people having a clear picture of what was coming to them.

In her story there was no communication between countries due to the lack of the necessary technology to do so. Towers were down and most experts that could use the satellite were rather small in number to give priority to communicating with foreigners, their hands are already full in making sure they are well-informed enough with the next tides as well as monitoring weather changes. And even if they do get to communicate with those in other countries, it does not make any difference to people who are doing their best to survive in the hard times. No matter how valuable the news might be, it does not solve the problem of the stomach nor it will do them good to scare their own people. Thus the news just dies before it will become common sense in this world.

Aila thinks that zombie kings are yet to be a problem for them. They take a long time to mature and get strong. They could take the chance to kill it before it could be a colossal threat, but proportional to the power of humanity, the sheer number of zombies guarding the kings are simply too powerful compared to the still growing power of humans. So Aila has no plans to target them when they are still too weak to confront them.

“Merls take my word and make sure to prepare adequately for the time that swarm will start moving.” Aila gravely said. “The area they are gathering was quite a distance away from the base the family has established, right? Make sure to make the manpower get stronger as fast as possible. I’ll send you something later on that I want you to make to hasten the process as much as possible. Do note that it will just make sure to make progress a little faster, not making people invincible.”

Merlin was startled at the series of words his cousin had told him. He could only nod at her words absent-mindedly. He did not question it nor did he try to think of why. Aila never does things without a reason and he trusts her enough not to screw him. There was no incident so far that Aila did something that has brought him harm, so he just did what was told. It was not that he would lose anything doing so.

Aila gives him precautions as well as a severe warning of not spreading what she will be sending him later. She went as far as making him promise, a word that Justine will die for rather than breaking. The Justine family honor their words, failing to do so was a failure of a person, thus a Justine rarely promises something to others.

Aila spent almost half an hour just saying things Merlin should take note of. And when they finally finished the call, Aila slumped in her bed with a headache forming in her head. Remembering the existence of zombie kings made her think of more hindsights she has not taken into consideration when she was planning. Perhaps the only good thing about this was that the king in this country was yet to have shown any signs of being born. They really need to speed up their strengthening and development before any indications will show up.

“I hope Bella knows about the existence of zombie kings and how to deal with them.” Aila groans. “Those existence are out of my reach. I cannot help with them should the need to exterminate them will arise. I’ll probably need to hole up in the base when the time comes under other’s protection.”

Sighing in helplessness, Aila was very aware how weak she is. But despite that she wishes no powers on her own. It was enough that the world could listen to her whims at times. She needed no more power ups and was a target of others' greed and jealousy. From the beginning to an end she was no stranger of death, so she has never feared its cold embrace.

Her concern was the people she will be leaving behind should she succumb to death. It was clear that it affected Bella so much. And a second time will definitely kill her friend inside as well as letting her loved ones mourn for her departure. Knowing that well, all she could do was to take care of herself the best she could.