389 Day of Departure, Leaving the Bay City Settlement After Setting Up a Bomb (1/2)

Day 66 - 6:22 AM - South Gate, South District, Bay City Settlement, Parañaque City, Metro Manila

Four days passed in the blink of an eye. These days were rather uneventful except for a few battles at the eastern walls. It was a common occurrence as the walls there were not separated from the mainland with trenches, unlike the other sides of the settlement. Furthermore, it would be very long before such encounters stopped. It was because of Metro Manila alone had millions in terms of the population before the outbreak.

Furthermore, the wave of infected returning from the coasts increased that number.

Mark and his group also raided several of the nearest untouched food establishments to gather the supplies they needed for travel. Although they could ask the military and trade [Mutagen Stones] for supplies, Mark would rather not. It might not be too soon, but with the large population of Bay City Settlement, they would surely experience a shortage.

Since the military governing the Bay City Settlement had treated his people well, he did not want to contribute to the cause of their future struggles.

Today was the scheduled day. With everything prepared and things to do had been done, it was now time to leave.

At the preparation area near the southern gates, several vehicles gathered. Most were modified military vehicles, but the most eye-catching were two odd futuristic-looking vehicles along with several oddly modified cars.

The [Exceed: Personnel Carrier] was already known by many. However, everyone was shocked seeing the completed [Exceed: Disintegrator Fortress]. It looked like a huge metal monster packed with weapons. They also saw Aimee test the slots dedicated to her tentacles that made it even scarier. Aside from those two vehicles, there were also supposed to be ”normal” vehicles before. Now, these vehicles had attachments that were never there before.

Normally, the military vehicles were the ones that looked intimidating. This time, their vehicles were overshadowed. Heavily overshadowed.

There was also Gifre and Chaflar.

For some reason, the soldiers felt small.

Nevertheless, there was a good advantage to this. It would be very unlikely for raiders to target them.

The news was not heavily circulated to the public, but the military and survivor groups had encounters with armed enemies once in a while. Very much like Gifre's group.

This event had not been announced. However, it seemed that the presence of Mark's group and the military's higher officers in one place attracted onlookers.

***

Inside the preparation building, Mark was together with General Perez, Major Lopez, and Captain Dela Rosa. There was also the person that would lead the soldiers, 1st Lieutenant Enrico Baller.

They were doing the final discussion about the route they would take to Marcos Highway.

”Going through C-6 might be the best idea.”

The General said.

As Mark had prepared before internet services were cut off, he had a full map of the Philippines, especially, Luzon, in his device. Even the military requested a copy as they had not thought of preparing one. All they had were normal maps that did not even have satellite images. Although the satellite images on Mark's application might not be too well updated, it was still a better reference than a blank map that only showed the roads.

They were currently using the application to determine the routes and Mark had several routes in the proposal.

The C-6 or Circumferential Road 6 they were currently talking about was the same road Karlene and Edzel took while riding on Chaflar's back. Since they had seen the road, they knew it better even just by memory.

Furthermore, as the east side of C-6 was facing Laguna Lake, the only threat they should expect would be coming from the west side of the road. Of course, there was still the possibility of attacks coming from the lake, but it was uncertain.

From there, they would enter Taytay and Antipolo, Rizal, before they get to Marikina-Infanta Highway.

This was the route they all agreed to take. It proposed the roads with less risk compared to others. There were still populated areas among the roadside, but it could not be compared to what they could encounter when traveling through several highly infested cities.

”So, the last thing is the possible resting points.”

Major Lopez spoke.

Since the final route had been decided, the only thing left was the resting points.

Like what happened to Mark when they had to travel to the University of Perpetual Help, they had to spend the night there. It was because unlike before the apocalypse, the roads now were longer to traverse because of the blockades. Those blockades could either be barricades or the infected. If the worst came, even humans could block them. In any case, they needed to choose where they could camp if they took too much time on the road.

The final meeting did not take long and the directions were circulated among the members, especially, the soldiers.

As Mark, went out of the tent, a woman hugged him.

”Dude, be careful on the way.”

Mark shrugged, this woman was no other than Carren. His college classmate and could be said as both good and bad influence on him. The person he also viewed as an older sister.

These past days, except for preparing, he spent time with his friends. He was not able to before since he had a lot of things to do.

Beside Carren, Markron tapped his shoulder. Together with the two was Saime. In college, the four of them were a group. Not a normal group, but a weird group with weird personalities.

The main reason Mark became an otaku was because of this group.

”I know, I know.”

Mark answered as he escaped from her embrace. Before, he quite liked being embraced by her. However, this woman was a married one. Yet, she never changed this habit of hugging Mark. She never did that to others though for some reason.

Aside from the three, the others that would stay were also here to say their farewell. Like Mark had expected, only those that had positive feedback when he told them about leaving decided to come with him. Most of them would stay. Hoping that their families managed to survive.

Rollan, Nikky, Mara, and Daniel, even the little Dorothy were saying their farewell to the other two members of their group. It was the same for Arvie's group as also two of their members would stay behind. Because of this, the ones staying on these two groups decided to form a new one.

”Sir!”

One the side, Edward's voice could be heard as he saluted to General Perez and Major Lopez. Captain Dela Rosa even gave him a brotherly embrace. As it appeared, they were all in one platoon when the accident happened on Edward. Seeing their comrade still alive made the officers happy. Now, however, Edward had to leave once more as he was recruited by Mark.

”You better take care of your partner. She might have gone through bad experiences, but life is not over.”

The General tapped Edward's shoulder.

”Yes, Sir!”

***

The farewells had been made and the ones leaving started to board their vehicles.

”Emika? Where are you going?”

Rosamie caught her daughter that was trying to slip away.

As the most important people here, it was decided that they would board Mark's vehicle that was the most secure one. Then, while the [Exceed: Disintegrator Fortress] led the way and the [Exceed: Personnel Carrier] along with the other vehicles behind it, the soldiers would be distributed around the convoy. It was to ensure that the non-combatants would be protected.