171 The Road Difficult to Traverse (1/2)

Day 6 – 5:03 PM – Molino Boulevard, Ligas, Bacoor City, Cavite

The sounds of gunfire continued along the way. The convoy had already driven past the compound of the ruined City Hall several minutes ago. They were closing into the most populated area of Bacoor. Because of that, the number of infected they were encountering started to increase but in the least, not too many and were too scattered to called a horde.

Irene sat at the back carrier of one of the Humvees while hugging her assault rifle. As there was not much danger after the syndicate was eliminated in Citta Italia, things that she did not have time to think of before started entering her mind that she could not concentrate too much on shooting even after they left. Every single one of the soldiers and police were obligated to participate in defending the convoy but with all the thoughts in her mind, she could not effectively.

”What are you thinking?”

Keene who was paired with her finally asked. The guy was really dense that he did not notice that there were something weighing her thoughts. If not for her suddenly sitting back after firing a round of gunshots at the infected charging at them, he would not have noticed.

”A lot of things…”

Irene sighed. She know that the thoughts she had right now was unnecessary but it was really bugging her.

What was right and what was wrong? How evil could a person get?

Back at the settlement when Mark suddenly shoved them into the Multi-cab, she felt annoyed but after witnessing the horror the swarm of flies brought to them, she was shaken. She was shaken not only because of fear but because she actually felt relief that she was not among the people who died outside. She saw several soldiers and people stung by the flies and turned into infected. At that scene, she somehow felt happy that she was not in their shoe. It made her feel conflicted.

She was a soldier and she should be one of the people protecting them but was it really alright to feel happy that she survived and the people she was supposed to protect died?

The next thought came to her when the soldiers started to burn the remaining members of the syndicate alive. At that scene, was it really alright that she saw those men not as human but animals? She could not help but ask herself how those people were able to commit such devilish acts.

According to the hostages and what Jumper confessed, aside from Jumper, every single one of them was a devil in human skin.

The hostages came from two sources. The first were those who were caught while they were evacuating while the second ones were those who were found during the supply runs of the syndicate. Nevertheless, both face the same kind of torment. The able ones mainly composed of men were forced to work on their base building defenses and fighting the infected. For the women, they became a means of entertainment for the members of the syndicate.

The main problem and the cause for the soldiers to burn those animals alive were due to the point that the syndicate did not share their supplies to their hostages. On the head count, there were one hundred twenty-three hostages and even more than that before for sure. With that large number of people, how were they fed? The hostages did not know it and only knew that they were fed with boiled salted meat. On Jumper's confession however…

The source of that meat was not something that humans in the right mind should consume. It was fortunate that the meat did not come from the infected but it just made the whole thing even darker.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

The hostages would likely lose their mind if they learn about the source of that meat.

Jumper on the other hand seemed to be appreciated by the hostages. It seemed that he did not touch any of the women and even incurred the ridicule of the other members for taking in the children saying that he had a weird fetish. The children however were all fine and by the looks of it, Jumper rather took good care of them. Now that the threat of the syndicate, Jumper let the children return to their relatives. It was unfortunate that some of those children had no relatives to return to anymore.

When Jumper was asked why he did that when he was a member of that syndicate…

”Do all of you really believe that I wanted to join them? I just had no choice.”

That was how he answered.

Irene told her thoughts to her childhood friend. Unexpectedly, Keene laughed.

”What's funny? I'm serious here.”

”Just don't think too much. What those thugs did was wrong but what's wrong with surviving? Don't think too much. Just follow what you believe in just like before.”

”What I believe…”

”That's right! As long what you believe isn't wrong, it's fine. If you really care for those who died, then live for their sake and perform what they could not anymore. That simple.”

Irene lifted her head and looked at Keene incredulously. What she received from him was a straightforward and brainless answer but she could not refute him at all.

Irene sighed, she should think over this once more later and ask someone else more experienced.

***

Day 6 – 6:23 PM – Emilio Aguinaldo Highway, Talaba, Bacoor City, Cavite

About another two hours passed once more after they left Citta Italia. They had already left Molino Boulevard and entered the highway but their speed horribly suffered. If it was before the outbreak, the distance they traversed from Citta Italia till their current location would just take about half an hour with the normal rate of heavy traffic considered.

Now however, the blockade of vehicles at the exit of the boulevard started their current headache. Even though the dump trucks still managed to get them out of the boulevard, it was because the vehicles blocking the boulevard exit were smaller vehicles with freezer vans as the largest ones. After entering the highway however, it became harder for them to move that even the military trucks started to help in pushing the smaller vehicles aside.

Another problem was the increasing number of infected they needed to defend the convoy from. This area was too close to a large street market, several malls, fast food chains and more enclosed markets. These establishments caused the population influx in this area. Even though the infected that was left here was a smaller portion compared to the whole population that frequented this area, it was still enough to give everyone a huge headache.

If the infected attacking was not handled effectively, it could spell disaster. It was more apparent with the constant appearance of Mutated Infected. The rather most common among the Mutated Infected were the Dozers. There were also infected animals from time to time and some new kinds of Mutated Infected appearing in the area.