May Peace Grace Us

Chapter 52: Gerald

Aila and her team went on and continued to the heart of the town. There were plenty of zombies for them to kill and their harvest was plentiful. The supply of the crystals they had is enough for them not to leave the base for at least a month. There is no better feeling than getting what you work hard for.

But when good things come, bad things often follow not so far behind. On their way back, Aila heard a familiar voice of someone she did not want to meet. A person whom she has never liked and will probably continue to dislike.

“You’re Aila right!” The man said as he stumbled on his way. “You’re that friend of Bella!”

Aila did not respond and turned around away from the man. She cares not for this man; she wishes that the zombies would eat him with no bones left. It was because of this guy that Bella was almost sold to a lustful man in her previous life, an offense she would never forget and forgive.

The guy’s name was Gerald Lamps, a cousin of Bella whom her friend held some respect for. He is a typical contemporary gentleman who can be a heart-throb to most people. He shares the same teal eyes of Bella and was of a good family.

But behind that facade of his was a black-hearted man. He is selfish and cowardly, bowing down and fawning at the strong and bullying the weak. In peaceful times, this characteristic of his is not so obvious due to his default standing, but in the chaotic world, he shows all his flaws and darker sides.

She remembered this man was a tenacious man who had survived the way to the city they used to live in. If he really was in this place from her past life, then she could say the man was capable enough to survive the whole journey. It was a hindsight that she did not know if it was the first time, but the guy is surprisingly sharp about their presence and effectively uses their existence to his advantage. If she had remembered this guy's existence early or at least noticed this particularity earlier, she would have used extreme methods to deter the man from coming near them or stage an accident before the apocalypse descended.

“Who is that man?” Judith whispered to Aila’s ears as the man continued to make noises and followed them.

“Bella’s cousin,” Aila answered iratedly.

“Then why don’t you help him if that is the case,” Judith asked.

“He is harmful.” Aila only said and ignored everything else. Her not killing the man at first sight and letting him make noises is already kind of her. She has no plans of engaging with this man nor does she want to build any sort of relationship with him other than his connection to Bella. If she did not have a little conscience at the moment that this guy had yet to commit any crimes against her, she would have snapped at first sight of him.

Still, she did not drive him away nor did she do anything excessive to him, due to him being innocent for now. Deep as her grudge may be, she does kill the innocent until they cease to be one. So she will spare his life temporarily.

Also, she wanted Bella to deal with the man herself too, to let her see how nasty this man really was. Although unlikely for Bella to be truly trusting to the man this time around, she wants to know if this guy can become a weapon for their use. Having more people is not a bad thing for their small population.

Aila knows that her decision to spare the man and possibly find their base is a dangerous one. But she wanted to bet on the possibilities that were never opened to them back then. This life of hers had taught her that the smallest things could make great things. Things that will have a great impact on the future they are working hard on building.

When they were near the base, the patrol team saw them and diligently led them inside. Among them was Bella, who might have felt suffocated inside and joined the team for fresh air. And with that, the cousins meet so easily.

Bella gave Aila a questioning glance before her attention was called by her cousin. Considerably, Aila and the rest of the people nearby did not interrupt them. Finding a relative still living is a precious thing in this uncertain world.

At least that is what the outsiders thought. When Aila stepped onto the base, Felix cast a worried look at Bella. They went through so many troubles cutting their trails and this man could ruin everything they did. Cold they are thinking like this, but this is a possibility they do not want to happen.

“How?” Felix mutely asked.

“Met on the road.” Aila did not want to say much, but she had to be clear as much as possible. “As much as I hate the man, I cannot carelessly kill him, okay. Bella still cares about the man and I don’t want to do anything that will upset her even without her knowing.”

“This guy is trouble.” Felix could only say as he shook his head at the sight of Bella guiding the guy to one of the community areas where everyone stays, at least those who can fit inside the house.

“I know that.” Aila only said as she went to the labs in her uncle Martin’s mansion. Judith was following her as she had their loot in her space.

“Was it really bad?” Judith asked, as she could no longer hold her curiosity.

“Very bad mom.” Aila sighs as a headache forms in her head. “I can’t say much, but we have to be vigilant at all times in regards to him. A time bomb that could explode at any minute.”

“What do you mean by a time bomb?”Harry asked as he saw the two whispering at each other.

“One of Bella's cousins is here.” Judith summarized their topic.

Hearing that, Harry has a frown on his face as he asks who this cousin is. Aila expressionlessly said Gerald Lamp, which further made the other’s face gloomy. No doubt he is already thinking of countermeasures so as to not let the guy know much about their base.

“This is madness.” Harry massaged his forehead. “We did so much and we fell short just after we were starting to relax and let go of our worries.”

Judith patted Harry’s shoulder as a consolation. She did not know the twist and turns, but from the looks of it, her suggestion of helping the man back then was really a bad idea. Thankfully, Aila did not follow her words and did her best to do the most rational thing she could think of. Though it still ended up with the others following them to the base, at least the guy was known to be an unwelcome existence. Should they have interacted more back there, this might be seen as something else in the eyes of others and might be a hole that might be taken advantage of.

“We’ll have a meeting about this later,” Harry said, as he couldn't think of anything good for himself. “They say share your burdens with others, so all of us will be burning our brain cells together on this.”

Aila also felt the same and they promptly decided on the meeting without others knowing. As for the others attending their war council, they could just drag them directly. It is not as if they are busy with anything else later. They can absolutely use this method without any problem.

Finding Travis in the lab, they hand in the crystals for him and his subordinates to deal with them. Travis had grown obsessed with studying the materials and he had more or less experimented a few uses of them. Having the crystals at hand is the greatest joy he could ever ask for in this new world.

But like Harry, Travis also has an uneasy face when he hears the existence of Bella’s cousin. The joy of having the crystals was overridden by his worry and anxieties. He even dropped a handful of crystals on the floor. Fortunately, none of them had been treated yet, else they might have been shattered by the impact of falling.

This has garnered the attention of the focus people in white gowns. They turned around and saw what was the matter, and knowing he had startled his people, Travis only said that his hands had slipped. Bending down, he collected the shards. This assured them and they then returned to their own businesses.

“Did the others know?”’ Travis asked as he led them out of the lab. Talking more in that place is not conductive and is very distracting to those who are working.

“Not yet. But I am sure that the others will more or less know in just a while.” Judith was the one who said this. “ I am thinking of issuing some warnings, so I‘ll leave first.”

The trio of hyenas were the ones left. They then went and found an empty room and settled there to have a discussion.

“So what do we do now?” Travis asked the two.

“We will wait,” Aila bitterly said. “We cannot arbitrarily do something to that guy. We have yet to snoop that low and I refuse to let us be one.”

“So I suggested a war council later,” Harry said, his piece. Travis was puzzled, as he did not know they even had a war council. Noticing his puzzlement, “Yes, we have a war council and all of us hyenas are members of it.”

“When did this even exist?”

“The moment everyone agreed that each of us would be interfering in each other's lives in some way or another.”

Shaking the playfulness in their moods, they then talked about business right after. Although they had all decided that the matter of Gerald will be discussed in their ‘war council’, Travis and Harry demand Aila to narrate what is happening outside their safe zones.

As the head of medicine, Travis wanted to know the changes outside to make appropriate preparations in regards to what falls under his jurisdiction. While Harry wanted to make a clear record of things that might help them keep track of what was happening and what they had been lacking during and after the changes were active. And together, the two needed to know the details as much as possible first hand.

Though the best way to let them know about the changes was to let them experience them themselves. Sadly, the base is simply so lacking in organization currently that most of the hyenas cannot leave as easily as they wanted to. The structure was already there, but the relevant people for the matter were yet to be appointed and mobilized. So they cannot personally get out and see things by themselves.

Aila told them as much as her vocabulary could convey. She used to be a writer, but narrating things was not as easy as transcripting her thoughts and ideas to papers or sites. Not to mention what her friends wanted to hear was closer to those of an academic debate or paper, which requires some concisiveness that sometimes stories do not need. So her words were a little awkward in her tongue for a reason. After all, she had not done something like this for at least 10 years in her cognition.

Who said that reincarnation and rebirth make things easier for people? Aila’s experience tells her that even with all sorts of knowledge and experiences, there are some things that cannot be made up until you encounter them. And whether or not you are once proficient at something, it is another matter altogether if you are no longer used to doing it. Thus, her awkwardness in elaborating things others inquire from her.

As planned later that evening, they abducted their own friends to make their war council an official one. They talked about some details of when similar things will happen again and what they should do. Whether they would take them in or not, if they let them in their base what their treatment will be and the likes; they talked about it in detail. Burning the midnight oil, they finally reach a conclusion before they take countermeasures for the upcoming winter.

It was already morning when they finished their talks and, uncharacteristically, all of them in the highest command took a leave from duties. Thankfully, most of the urgent things are already addressed and dealt with so that the others can only smile warmly at them lazily. The sight lets the adults see them as half-way adults they really are. Something about children should not push themselves too much. That they, the adults, could also be a wall they could lean on.

Not knowing what the others thought, the hyenas were fast asleep in the huge bed of Aila. Judith, who checked on them, had a warm smile as she took a photo of the children, sending it to the internal group chat that did not include these hard-working children. After she was done with her actions, she then closed the door and went on to her task for the day.

And the days passed by and winter was looming above their heads. Busy they might be with their daily tasks and all, the city and the world itself were facing a different kind of busyness.