Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 215: Immortals

Jun got confused with the nametags above those people's heads. Their nametags, even though currently unknown and only filled with question marks, would repeatedly go on and off like it was blinking.

"There's thirteen of them. If we count those that remained hidden in some cars there's around fifteen to twenty." Jun stated as he counted the nametags that he could see. Due to range limitations, he couldn't give an exact number to everyone.

"These are the threats that I've been trying to tell you about. I've only read it from reports but they sure look half-dead with all those weird black patterns all over their bodies." Carl said.

"You know them?" Jun asked as he watched the people made their move and slowly approached closer to them.

"It would take a long time to give you a clear background of who these people are and we don't have enough time for that, so I'll just give you the short version. A small group of military forces happened to be passing by and took back control of the town from the undead. After the town was partially safe, one guy chose to destroy it all. We don't know why but he had some personal beef with the military. He contradicts everything the military wanted and even rallied same-minded people who wanted 'change' to happen. Taytay was then plunged into a civil war and innocent survivors were 'convinced' to join a cult. From our investigations, the man was called The Whisperer and his partner was called The Queen. Both have unidentified skill sets, and the numbers of those half-dead lackeys they control were increasing. That's also the reason why we're leaving the town in a hurry."

"You won't be able to leave this place." said one man with a piercing on his lips and nose. He raised the baseball bat he was holding and pointed it on Jun. "Unless you give us that man, every last one of you will die. You see, that man wronged numerous people on my turf and I had to give justice to them. My face would be scraped off if I don't get to kill him. Literall"

A loud gunshot rang over the area.

"Matias died again."

"Hahaha."

Jun hurriedly switched to another target after firing his revolver. He ignored the weird chatter from those people and continued firing.

He could save ammunition if he were to fight in close combat, but just like what Carl had said, they seem to not have enough time since people were waiting for them. Besides, he was too eager to see Marianne and he want to deal with this trouble as soon as possible.

"To be honest, I don't understand what he meant by what he said earlier. Nevertheless, I already started things up, so that you can't think of handing me over. Is there any problem?" Jun spoke nonchalantly as he asked Carl who was dumbfoundedly staring at him.

As the two were talking, numerous yells and footsteps came from all around them. Jun became shocked once he learned that there were more reinforcements than he initially thought.

Carl sighed then raised his hand to perform a hand gesture. Afterward, several gunshots resounded and every shot hit those deathly-looking goths.

The fight was to their advantage due to the environment. Even though the tide of people charging from all directions was numerous, they still couldn't do anything in the face of modern weaponry.

The gunfire echoed endlessly until the last one slumped down after getting hit on the back of the head when the man tried to escape. The tranquility of the night was once again restored.

Jun shrugged after watching the soldier's performance. "Well, at least you're not lying when you said that they're elite marksman."

Carl ignored him and headed towards the military trucks parked by the side of the road. "Let's go."

The team moved as one cautiously towards the trucks. The half-deads that tried to sneak away would get shot once found and those who remained in hiding were killed by Jun.

Jun tried looting one and found out that they were already infected since the looting system appeared instead of absorbing. He quickly lost interest but still continued looting.

When the countdown hit zero, instead of an essence shard, a bunch of random items littered the ground. There were several clothes, a bit of food, and various types of blunt and sharp weapons. Did the looting system malfunctioned? But can it even malfunction?

"Hey, let's go!" shouted Carl sitting by the passenger side of the truck.

Jun stood up in confusion. He left the loot behind since it felt strange and if any of those item were cursed, he would be the one to cry.

As he approached the truck, he glanced towards the way they came from and became confused when he saw that there were no bodies to be found. if it weren't for the trace of blood and the numerous items on the ground, he would have doubted whether they actually encountered those weird people.

Jun leaped up to the back of the truck and sat together with the soldiers. 

One of the soldiers hit the side of the truck twice while shouting, "Let's go!"

As the truck disappeared around the corner, people started crawling out from under the cars.

If Jun were to see this scene, he would be shocked to see that the man he just shot in the head was lively walking around.

The group gathered up and the man with piercings noticed that a few people were missing. He walked around randomly and found the pile of items on the ground next to a car.

He stared doubtfully at the ground for a long time until he noticed a knife with initials carved in its handle.

"Isn't that your brother's knife? Where is he? Why did he leave his items here?"

Without any warnings, the man with the piercings suddenly used the knife to stab that person in the head. "Don't pull it off. Let him rest for a bit."

The people around him nodded their heads and respectfully heeded his advice. One of them stepped forward and asked, "Brother Matias, I know what I would be saying is absurd and could be even considered against the doctrine, but aren't we supposed to be immortals? As long as we have enough energy, we would revive. That's why everyone willingly joined Sir Lloyd and the madam."

Matias raised his hand to stop the man from talking. He looked down at the man he stabbed and pulled out the knife lodged on his head.

The group of strange people encircled the dead man. If it were before the apocalypse, this could be misunderstood as vile people doing a ritual on a dead body even if there was not enough proof to be seen.

Everyone stood idly and waited in expectation as they watched the stab wound slowly regenerate. The group nodded in understanding once they saw the wound fully heal. They also understood that the slow recovery was due to the low amount of energy the man had.

Upon seeing the man open his eyes and stare at them, the group's atmosphere became lax.

Matias looked around and stated, "We are still immortals. I have some guesses on what happened to others and I would discuss it with the madam. Go back to your patrols and bring back more bodies. To bountiful hunting!"

"To bountiful hunting!"

"What do you think? Is it better to shoot them ahead of time or do we have to wait until they're ready?"

Jun chatted idly with the soldiers to pass time. He felt so excited upon thinking that he could finally meet Marianne. that he couldn't stop himself from talking away.

The soldiers answered perfunctorily so that Jun would stop talking to them. To their dismay, Jun wasn't going to stop any time soon unless they arrive at their destination.

"Then how do you judge when to shoot people? Only when they held weapons or threaten you? Those kind of thinking were from the old world. If you meet someone with a strange skill, you guys would die even before you realize what happened. Oh, by the way, do you guys know where are we going?"

"We're heading to the New Public Market, what do they call it there? Tiangge? Yeah, that place. It was the nearest point of interest that has access to both highways for easier caravan movement."

"Ohh, is the place looted? The place offers good clothes and I don't mind taking a bunch of them." Jun said.

"The government took it. It's being distributed to the survivors at Antipolo."

"You keep saying that every time I ask you something that I'm interested in," replied Jun.

"Well, its the only answer I can give you."

As Jun was about to reply, the truck suddenly screeched and slowed down.

Jun managed to grab something and prevented himself from flying forward.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Jun shouted as he stabilized his seating posture. He did not get the answer he wanted.

Instead, Carl's anxious voice traveled to his ears. "They're gone."