A mile down the road from where Michael and the others are.
There's a long trail that leads into the forest and at the end of this trail, there's this house of adequate size sitting in the middle of the forest. It has a similar architectural design like the White House back in DC.
It was probably the summer home of some rich guy before the pandemic even began, but now, it has lost its luster and elegance since a group of survivors has now occupied it. They had built a wall with adequate height from various types of materials they could get their hands on and nailed them together like they were some Lego blocks.
"All of you, get inside and hide!"
The lookout standing on what looks like a watchtower heard the rumbling of an engine ahead of the trail and immediately became vigilant. He yelled for the people down below to take cover inside the mansion before he slowly drew his rifle and aimed it towards the forest trail.
Vrooom!
Since almost all the fighters in the camp had gone out and only left him alone to guard the camp. The man is feeling incredibly nervous right now that sweat has started to build up on his forehead, his palms especially so.
A short while later.
On the curve, the figure of a red truck appeared on the less denser area of the trail and was followed by two more vehicles.
Seeing the familiar car along with the others, the man's tense nerves had slowly loosened up when he spotted them and immediately lowered his weapon. He quickly got down from the ramp and went to work on the gate to open it for them.
Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!
The three cars charge through the open gate, startling the man. He immediately got confused from that and his vigilance once again heightened.
He quickly drew a distance from them and raised his gun towards the newcomers.
"Whoa! Calm down, Aries. It's just us." Cyan was the first one to come down from the red pick up with her hands raised in the air.
The man called Aries, finally felt relieved seeing a familiar face and immediately lowered his gun. He rebuked her with some helplessness in his voice. "Dammit, Cyan! Why are you guys driving so recklessly like that? I thought I just made a mistake and invited a disaster into our camp!"
"But where are Lucas and the others? How come it's only you guys?"
While the man was talking, the others had also alighted from the cars once the misunderstanding was cleared. Some quickly went inside to look for the others while the rest immediately started packing up the things they'd need on the road.
Cyan sighed, she did not know how to break it to him since he and Lucas are tight. She could only shake her head. "That's the primary reason why we hurriedly came back."
"They-"
"Stop f*cking hesitating, geez. Lucas and the others are not returning. The plan fell through, the prey we thought of as easy picking is actually the predator, and we gladly threw ourselves into its mouth. We only managed to come back safely this time since we felt that the situation then suddenly didn't feel right. It's also thanks to Cyan's constant urging that she managed to convince the few of us to stay behind, but Lucas was too hard-headed. He did not listen and still went through with it. I'm sorry, man."
"I-I see. I knew this day would come, but I didn't expect it would happen this fast. I warned them multiple times before that this is not the right way to survive."
Listening to his words, Aries suddenly felt incredibly saddened that he even staggered backwards in disbelief from what he just heard, but at the same time, he also felt a sense of relief.
"Sorry man."
Cyan looked and smiled slightly. "Yeah, that's why you were never allowed to go out with us."
"Anyway, we shouldn't stay here long. The place where we tried to ambush them is not far from here and there's a high chance they might discover the way to this place."
"Wait, wouldn't it be better if we stay here for one more night? If we leave now, there's even a higher chance that we might bump into them." Aries quickly contained his emotions and stopped Cyan since during the time they were talking, it did not take him long to notice that these people never really put a lot of thought into their plan and were probably acting rashly out of panic.
"You said earlier that the place you tried to raid them is not far from here, right?" Aries asked and Cyan nodded in return.
"Yeah, just three miles from here but get to the point already since we need to hurry."
"Were they heading north? Then the more that we should not leave right now. There's an even higher chance that we might encounter them on the road just as we're leaving." Aries reasoned. He does think one bit that these kids did not leave any clues or tracks for someone to follow while they were escaping to return here.
'Let's hope that group does not have one of those who are very good at spotting small details, or else this place is f*ck since we do not have adequate tools or enough people to defend this place.'
Cyan thought for a moment and realized that his words do make sense and finally agreed with him.
"Alright, we stay for the night and leave at daybreak then everyone." She said those words in a suggestive tone, but everyone heard it as an order.
"Okay"
"Got it. I'll go make something for dinner then."
This woman who was once just pushed out to the side had taken her first steps as a leader.
On the other hand, Michael is just finishing up in dealing with the swarm of walkers who came to crash the party.
[You terminated a Zombie! Gained +1 EXP and +1 Coin.] x79
[You have gained a Level! Reward: +1 Enhancement]
"Finally.." Michael muttered with a smile when he heard the pleasant sound of the system notification softly ringing in his ears.
Michael quickly brought up the system and added the additional enhancement point on his Agility and once again felt that soft surge of power circulating in his body.
Survivor Information [Trojan]
Name: Michael Fisher
Level 5 [EXP: 29 / 2000]
Age: 29
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Vitality: 6
Enhancement(s): 0
Weapon(s):
Sig Sauer P320
Winchester 1892
Six Barreled Grenade Launcher
M4
[Unequipped] Old Folding Trench Shovel
[Unequipped] Skillet
[Unequipped] Mini Sledgehammer
[Unequipped] Claymore
[Unequipped] Machete
Module:
Alchemy Store
Sells items 150 years from the future
[Second Module Locked]
Coins: 2358
Michael let out a deep breath and enjoyed the refreshing feeling brought by the additional enhancement.
'Finally surpassed the human limits.'