CHAPTER. 26

CHAPTER 26

Zombie groans and screams filled the air as the trucks were chased by majority of the zombies, only a scanty number remained behind while the rest of them set their eyes on the vehicles. Normally, slow walkers were mostly blind and used their ears which were always sound sensitive and noses to locate their preys. The swifts were also mostly blind and only saw blurry black and white figures. Only at the combatant levels could the zombies see clearly and even better than the ordinary humans except that they only saw black and white. The people in the building had been trying so hard to do away with an thing that would produce sounds and the zombies had slowly began to lose interest, only those closer to the building and were perceiving the stronger scent continued to linger.

From time to time, tiny cracks would suddenly appear in front of the zombies chasing the teens. Several zombies would fall in only for it to close like it wasn't even there in the first place. Several tiny fire balls landed on the zombies setting some of them on fire. As they continued to chase the teens, the more reduced in numbers they were because the teens began to use their elemental powers on them. Gradually, formed a circle in their movement pattern as they returned to their starting point.

Of course, the numbers of zombies there were few as at least ninety-five percent were drawn away by them when they used

themselves as bait. Even better was the fact that a lot of the zombies had died from their attacks and many more had been left behind in their dust. Without time to waste, the teens disembarked from their trucks and began to deal with the few zombies that were left. As they got into the heat of the moment, a 'blood party' began for them. Heads were dismembered from bodies, arms were cleaved off, spears made of earth impaled several zombies and so on.

Minutes later. . ..

The teenagers looked at the thorough work they had performed on the zombies with a satisfied expression on their faces. They just couldn't help it whenever they had even the slightest opportunity to dice zombies to their very atoms, the very sight of them reminded them of Marvellous who was no longer with them. Back to business, they walked to the door which no doubt had been barricaded from behind. Well to the slow walkers a couple of items acting as barricades would be enough, the number of zombies that had been trying to break through the door however was no small amount and for a barricade that was able to keep them at bay, it was definitely not something small. The teens had no courage that even they would probably be able to open it with brute force.

*Knock* Since they could not get in without permission, they would as well wait for the people inside to let them in. A

few seconds after they knocked, signs of movements could be sensed from within and a lady's voice speaking to someone.

Soon, the sounds of objects scrapping the ground could be heard from within. After that, the sound of an engine starting up

sounded, catching the teens by surprise. 'No wonder the zombies were unable to break open the door, there was something

really gigantic and heavy behind it!' They thought.

Moments later, the door opened and a feminine face that had definitely seen her share of zombies appeared from behind the door. With a curious gaze, she examined the teens. Her eyes told the teens everything they needed to know, the woman was puzzled by the fact that such young fellows were not in a sanctuary and were actually roaming the apocalyptic streets like it was their backyard and had even put such a large horde of zombies to permanent sleep. Her thoughts however were not allowed to wander for long, that could wait. Rose took a step towards the woman who cast a wary glance at her but maintained her calm.

"Hi. . .." Rose said, "My I'm Rose and these are my friends. Can I have yours?"

The woman examined Rose's face for some moments as if trying to see through her before replying, "I'm Sabrina."

Sabrina had a very strong - font, she gave out the vibe that she could handle her own no matter how bad it got. Considering

that she had survived for so long on her own with only her ill husband and a young boy, it was more than enough to tell that

the vibe was authentic. With her low cut brownish - blond hair, she looked like a badass lady that would have kicked countless

asses before the apocalypse. The teens looked at the interior of the building with surprise, the interior of the building had been

transformed to something totally different sometime back - most probably after the apocalypse. The engine sound that the

teens had heard was that of a very huge tractor that looked like it would rather fall apart than come on one more time. A man

lay at a corner of the building, obviously he was Sabrina 's husband. Beside him was a kid that sat still as a log of wood as he stared at the teens. Most probably he was scared that numerous people suddenly entered the building after the attacks from the zombies. The teens were already tired from their days work, battling zombies was only fun while it lasted, only when the adrenaline wore off would the actual effect of the energy consumption reveal itself and they had used a lot.

As soon as they found a place to seat, they seemed to have lost all strength as they fell asleep.

_-_-_

Maxwell smiled as he walked about the sanctuary, at that moment he knew that he had a lot of paper works to attend to but at that moment he just wanted to look around the sanctuary. At the moment, the sanctuary could be said to be at its peak as several number of superhumans had emerged. All still the same however, it also left a strand of discomfort in his heart, of the sanctuaries still headed by a level one superhuman, his was among and he feared that his position wouldn't be as solid as it was soon. Most of the superhumans had decided to start hunter groups and had left the sanctuary to hunt for crystals to exchange for resources with the sanctuary or upgrade their power levels. He feared that if he didn't break through soon, sooner or later someone would come running to challenge him. Over the past few days, he had been crazily absorbing the energy from the level one crystals that had been gained from the exchange process. He could feel that he was about to breakthrough and he needed one final step to achieve that. However, the step didn't seem to be something he could take at that moment, he had a feeling that he needed just an impetus to achieve that but hadn't found it. His thoughts however and his worries were restricted to himself alone, he always made sure to keep up his smile that said 'no problems or worries' when he was strolling

about the sanctuary. Over the years one of his best protective fonts was to 'keep his thoughts hidden'.

"Seems like I can't see you not worrying no matter what I do." A voice that sounded too familiar to him that he wouldn't

forget even under hypnosis whispered in his ear. Of course the one who spoke was Anthonia, she was the only one who was

allowed to speak to him in that manner after all, she had the position of the vice, was his best friend, and was now his fiancée.

With a smile Maxwell turned to face her, with his face only a few inches from hers and her hair blowing into his face he replied.

"How can I not worry with you about? I fear that I will be too distracted by you and will neglect my duties."

Anthonia rolled her eyes at the tease before letting out a giggle. How could she no see that he had something bothering him that he didn't want to tell her, no matter what however she would never push too far into his matters. He would tell her when he wanted to, she just hoped that it wouldn't be too long.

A truck packed beside them, from within a soldier stepped out. In his hands was a very small bag which he held like a sacred item. It was normal though; the soldier was just an ordinary human who enlisted to provide for his family. As the sanctuary got bigger, it got harder to maintain discipline and order. A decision was therefore arrived at by the sanctuary head - who was none other than Maxwell - and his vice - who just happened to be his fiancée - to create a military force to maintain order and discipline, and protect the sanctuary. Obviously, the protection part would have been more suitably handled by the super powered humans but the majority of them had no desire to join. They preferred to form their own hunter groups and headed out to find crystals to become stronger or use as a medium of exchange. The man was successfully enlisted because he was an ex - lieutenant of the army before the apocalypse. As an ordinary human, it was very rare to have contact with an energy crystal let alone hold them, but at that moment, he was holding a bag of energy crystals. Without unnecessary words, he delivered the crystals and left.

"This seems a lot more than the last few returns." Maxwell said, "Apart from the percent kept in the sanctuary's reserve, there is still so much of it left. With this I should be able to breakthrough successfully."

"Hmhm. . . That's right." Anthonia replied, "You don't seem happy however, what is wrong?" She asked.

Maxwell sighed, he lifted the bag to eye level and examined it before looking at Anthonia. "It really is good to know that I will be breaking through soon." He said, "However I fear for humanity." Anthonia looked at him confused, "How?"

"Last time I received the crystals, they were not as many as this, every time I get my quota from the crystals they always

increase in numbers. That is enough reason to keep me on the edge as a leader don't you think. The higher the number of crystals, the better verified it is that the number of combatants out there are increasing at a very fast rate. How many people go through the mutation process? how many people survive, how many superhumans do we have in total. We are vastly outnumbered by the zombies and are less favoured by the virus. They on the other hand have all the advantages. . .."

Anthonia silently listened to the words of Maxwell, of course they were facts that were spread wide open for people to see in the apocalypse. She could sense the worry in Maxwell's words as she listened and would to do something, anything to make it go away. She just like him however was just like him, also helpless before the situation and could only blame their weakness. Maxwell let out another deep sigh, he looked at the sky that was reflecting the red colour of the sun and shook his head. He shook the bag of crystals again before planting a light kiss on Anthonia's lips.

"I've got an upgrade to meet up." He said and began to walk back the way he had come, a smile on his face.

Anthonia stood unmoving on the spot, the words of Maxwell continued to ring in her hear. She was fully aware of the situation of human kind in the apocalypse, if there were really as many combatants as Maxwell was hinting, it would be really troublesome for mankind to escape extinction. 'Let's just hope that it does not come to that.' She thought.