106 Chapter One Hundred and Five - Best Laid Plans... (1/2)

It was also their last chance to do such a thing as well, as while the numbers of humanoid zombies were still low compared to the months of spring, they were rising every day.

However, before they could put their plan into action, it began to rain.

It wasn't a thunderous downpour, the heavens literally tipping water from the sky down onto the Earth, but more a persistent steady rainfall that lasted for three days, drenching their home in water and making the ground soggy in this period.  Any plants with weak foundations or that were already nearing the end of their annual life cycle didn't survive; they lost the last batch of tomatoes and cucumbers, which blackened within their watery graves and the melon vines, which fortunately no longer held fruit, shrivelled to dust.

The plants and vegetables of the first property had less chance of dying or mutating than elsewhere, the cannibalistic grass in the third property's grounds expanded and there were signs of more mutated flowers in the second.  These latter ones looked harmless, so they could only keep an eye on them for now.

Plants were not the only thing that could be effected by the tainted rain, so anyone without a cultivation foundation were requested to not leave the shelter of the houses for any long period of time, while only those of secondary stage and above could man the walls, meaning long shifts for all of them.  These were Ren Zexian's recommendations and the people of the base had become used to listening to him so agreed.

Shaun was the exception, which frustrated him to no end.  Before the apocalypse, he'd never felt that his lack was a burden, for the modern lifestyle meant that his disability didn't make his life much more difficult that a person with full mobility, just that he had to do a few things differently.  And when he'd gained his powers over metal, he once again held that feeling of independence.  But although he was as strong as many others in the base, he often felt helpless to prove it.

He could only watch as Dexter dragged his feet through the back door to eat a sweet potato style curry with cauliflower rice that Autumn had busied herself in preparing during the day with precious coarse bread rolls to bolster the defending men's energy.  He could only grit his teeth as he listened along with the woman as Dexter described the situation on the walls.

The rain had made the clusters of returning zombies bold.

”It looked like the rain messed with our scents,” Dexter mentioned as he slowed down his intake of food now his stomach felt a little more comfortable.  ”The zombies weren't drawn to any of us on the walls until we moved, at which point we had to contend with a long ranged assault of stones, icicles, tree branches, some lightning.  Not so much fire though.”  The rain had given the zombies some advantages, but a few disadvantages as well.

When Dexter left to once more tackle the task of defence, Shaun felt his mood lowering further.  He tapped a finger on the table for a while, deep in thought, before being startled out of them with Autumn's request that he pass some of the used dishes over.  Her simple sentence actually made him feel better as while it was true that he couldn't help out on the walls, no one blamed him for it and no one treated him any differently because he relied on a wheelchair.  So he himself shouldn't sulk about it and consider the things he could do or could try to do.

Which was why he requested he be added to the squad leaving the base for supplies.

Although the weather had turned in their favour, the walls still needed to be manned, yet the squad also could not be weak.  Naturally, they needed Chang Min and Ren Zexian, as the strongest of the cultivators to split up onto separate teams.  Chang Min usually ventured out with them thanks to the close ties between Nathan and Ren Zexian, but this time the apprentice requested that he remain within the walls, not go out.