282 After the Storm, The Events and Circumstances of the Eastern Settlements (1/2)

Day 42 – 11:23 AM – Tongohin National Highschol, Barangay Gumian, Infanta, Quezon

Inside one of the classrooms that was supposed to be occupied by students before the outbreak, the chairs with armrests were put in a circle and a temporary meeting room was made. It might look odd and awkward but it could not be helped as there was no way for the military to bring furniture with them during the evacuation. Instead of loading furniture into the vehicles, they would rather use the vehicles to transport people.

Right now, those wooden chairs were occupied by the same people that govern over the Port of Real Settlement. Both the military officers led by General Faustino were present along with a few scientists let by Professor Suzuki. On one side were the politicians and sitting beside the general was Joash who somehow looked like in a bad mood. Aside from the usual members, the head of Salvador Family from East Port Settlement, Darren Salvador, and his eldest son, Raybert were also present.

”Darren, if the two settlements merge, I doubt that your family will remain in its current position.”

General Faustino spoke.

They were currently discussing issues they were facing now after that strange storm finally vanished. The East Port Settlement was ruined and with the loss of the Ruanto Family and the missing Cristobal Family, the Salvador Family alone would not be able to manage such a large population on their own. In fact, they only maintained being one of the three families in order to hinder the other two families from their evil acts but now that the two other families were gone, there was no reason for them to remain either. Because of those reasons, it was better if their settlement merged with the military that had the manpower and weapons to secure their bases.

”It's really fine with us. We also want to step down soon so we can concentrate on managing our family rather than others.”

Darren smiled. If the merge was approved and he was able to step down, things would be lighter for him. Managing a business before the outbreak was hard not to mention managing a whole settlement.

”I see.” General Faustino nodded and panned his eyes to others who also nodded in consent. ”Alright, everyone seems to be in agreement. This will be announced later to the people. Let us move to the next topic and the most important one.”

Hearing this, the faces of everyone inside turned serious.

”This early morning, our scouts returned to Port of Real to check the situation. Regrettably, it is bad.”

”General, what do you mean?”

The incumbent governor of Quezon, Daniel Suero asked.

To that question, General Faustino looked at his secretary to speak.

Apparently, the residential area of the settlement was ruined. Many buildings and structures were destroyed and some were even missing. The likeliness that those missing buildings were washed away to the sea after the water from the storm surge subsided was very high. It was also the same for the military section. Although the buildings were reinforced to some extent, the damages incurred could not be ignored. With the damage inflicted to the settlement by the storm, it would be better to rebuild the whole settlement from scratch rather than repairing what was destroyed. Unfortunately, it might be different if the outbreak had just started but they did not have enough resource and equipment to do that now.

However, that was not the main issue. Many died in that storm whether it was humans, animals and even infected. Especially for the fleeing sea creatures that had come ashore, many of them died because of various reasons. The problem lay with the corpses left. There were too many and a lot of them looked inedible. Still, due to those corpses, the infected, evolved carnivore birds and even carnivorous sea creatures came in droves to feast on the corpses.

With all those gathering at the coasts, it would be dangerous for people to approach those areas. Among the areas affected however were the Port of Real Settlement and East Port Settlement that were both built by the coastline.

”So, we have no other choice but to relocate am I right?”

The incumbent governor asked.

”Unfortunately, yes. However, we still need to decide where. Since we still can stay here for another day or two, I expect suggestions from everyone here.”

The general replied.

”Including us?”

Darren Salvador asked.

”If possible, yes.” General Faustino replied with a nod. ”It is better if more people could give a suggestion to this. It is better to have more options not to mention that your family is among the people here that know this area well.”

”I see. Then, I'll also give my suggestions later.”

Soon, the meeting was done and the government officials left first as usual. As for the others, they did not leave, especially since they still had something to discuss.

”Professor Suzuki, what are your findings?”

General Faustino asked which made the others look serious once more.

”Those heads and bodies, they were in the similar condition as Drake's and his men's corpses. This is why I totally think that our first assumptions about Mark were true. Well, at least not all of the heads lost their mutations though. For some reasons, Mark did not take all of them.”

”I see.”

General Faustino nodded in understanding.

After the events last night, the soldiers found the headless bodies everywhere around the ruined Death Valley Settlement. Furthermore, they found the house where Mark housed the severed heads after Mark left with the people he intended to take away.