Trash In The Apocalypse

"Rest over there." said Jun, pointing at the nearby tent. It was a wide outdoor tent with a high ceiling. A long table was on the middle with long chairs on both sides. This tent could be a dining place or a meeting place when the mines were still being used.

"We"ll scout the area first," he said while signalling for Adrian to follow him. As if reminded of something important, he turned around and looked at Edward and Sheila. "Wear your earphones and call us if anything weird happens."

The two nodded their heads and quickly equipped their wireless earphones. Though it only works for 100m, Jun and Adrian shouldn"t go that far if they just want to scout the area.

With that, Jun and Adrian proceed to check the few buildings on the camp site. Adrian followed Jun and felt weird since they only walked by the dirt path and never entered any of the buildings they pa.s.sed by. He knew that they should be careful but the way that they"re doing it is too careful. He wondered if they would even be able to find the people they were looking for.

On the other hand, Jun was extremely calm as they walked by buildings after buildings. The only threat that could surprise him now was the carriers. Right now, it was impossible for humans to ambush him since he was vigilant. After the encounter earlier, he realized that people are much dangerous than those carriers and has to give an extra effort about safety when outside.

They continued walking as Jun kept scanning the buildings for any living people. His eyes brought him trouble most of the time, but once he got comfortable using its skills, it certainly made his life easier.

Adrian without knowing that Jun already finished scanning the buildings they pa.s.sed by, felt bored and started whistling.

Jun heard him but ignored him since this could help attract any hidden carriers or threat in the area. With his strength and Adrian"s agility, he doesn"t feel scared or troubled of anything that might come out. He actually wants something to come out, to not waste their trip here.

To his dismay, they reached the last building and couldn"t find anyone. This findings made Jun disappointed.

Jun felt disappointed for two reasons. The first reason was that there"s a high chance that Evo"s plotting something against him. The other reason was that their trip here cost them a lot of lives while only receiving a few guns and ammunition in return.

The death slaves were almost decimated and currently, only six people remain. His hunting speed would be severely affected since he can"t recklessly fight hordes with this number. Without people regulating the number of carrier that he needs to fight, every fight would now become troublesome. Though he could monopolize more experience when hunting hordes, the difficulty and everyone"s safety would now become a problem.

Adrian felt that Jun was thinking about something, but didn"t bother asking him. He was more interested at observing the surrounding area since it was the first time he saw a mining site. He grew up in poverty and it teached him the way of the world. To do everything to survive.

Most of the buildings were made of storage containers. The large metal containers were refurbished and made liveable, becoming the workers living quarters. The only exception was the building at the center, probably the main office since it was the only one made from wood.

There were atleast dozens of abandoned container pads in the area, but there was no one to be seen. According to Evo, there should be a small group of survivors here.

While hesitating whether Evo really betrayed him or not, Jun saw a woman came running out of the mine"s entrance. She had dishevelled hair and ragged clothing. After getting out, she slipped and stumbled a few times. She tried running but could only crawl making her advance as slow as a turtle.

Jun rushed forward and was able to see dozens of red eyes inside the shadows of the mine entrance. The sun was only able to lighten up a few meters into the mine"s entrance, making any attempts to see inside an impossible task.

Jun felt his hairs rose as he stared at their eyes. Even though he doesn"t know what they are, their frenzied gaze gave him chills.

The dozen pair of eyes slowly disappeared, accompanied by thunderous echoes on the mines.

"Are you okay miss?" said Jun after he confirmed that those creatures really left. He wondered what those creatures were and she could probably answer most of his questions. He waited for the woman to catch her breath when she suddenly lunged at him and grabbed his legs.

"Please save my father! He"s trapped inside! Please! Please help him!" the woman begged. When she rose her head, she saw a horrific sight that made her gasp and swallow some saliva that slowly filled her mouth.

When she was running out. she saw two young men standing idly outside. She was only able to run that fast because she saw people that might be able to help her. But how did things end up like this? The people who she thought could help her was now pointing daggers at her.

"I- I"m sorry. I don"t know what I did wrong but... could you please help me?" said the woman pleadingly. Her black irises stared to the men glaring at her but she didn"t look away.

"Let go of his leg." said Adrian.

The woman finally realized why the two were acting like this. She bitterly laughed and slowly let go. "I"m sorry," she said a bit blus.h.i.+ng, "I didn"t know that you were a couple. Please don"t worry about it. I have no intention of taking him from you. Actually, I support this type of love too."

"What in the world are you saying?" replied Adrian feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"We"re not like that..." Jun said. He even felt mad having to explain that. He tried his best to remain on the side of reason and chose to bombard her with question instead. "Who are you? What happened here? Where"s the rest of the people?"

The woman seemed to not believe the two denying their ties and felt that there"s still some chance based on their reactions. How she came to that conclussion? Only she, herself, knows.

After being asked about things was she able to remember to panic. "M-my father! Help him!"

She tried clutching Jun"s leg in desperation, but he dodged it. Then, she turned to Adrian and jumped to his leg. She hugged his leg while describing the situation.

The father and daughter duo went sightseeing on the old mines. Her father was one of the oldest miners and has special access to the mines. Normally, it isn"t allowed for civilians to enter the mines but since he have connections with the owner of the mine, he was granted access. In the middle of her story telling, she was able to introduce herself and her father, Angelica Sison and Dominic Sison, respectively.

At this time, Jun cut off the story and asked a question. "There"s only two of you? Are there other people in the area?"

Angelica felt confused but still answered his question. "There"s the army guarding the place and some site managers. They had to explain about my father"s sightseeing to the army, so they came with us. Besides that, I don"t remember seeing other people. Why are you asking?"

Before Jun could answer, Angelica started crying and repeatedly blamed herself. "I kept saying that I don"t want to go here, but he insisted!". Then, cries again as if a child asking for help.

The two men knew and realized long ago that she was a pain the a.s.s. Jun was thinking of ways to get more information out of her while Adrian was blissfully enjoying the soft sensation hugging his legs.

Jun coughed and uttered a certain person"s name, making Adrian s.h.i.+ver and look around. When he didn"t see her, he slowly wiggled his legs out from the woman"s hands. He bitterly smiled as he softly said like he was talking to a child, "I"m sorry miss, please let me go."

Jun continued his interrogation and found that the total number of people here didn"t even reached ten when the world changed. She continued begging for the two to help his father, but to no avail. 

Considering that it was weeks ago when they arrived here, how and why would his father even be inside the mines? How could he trust her words when they suddenly meet a suspicious lady after everything that happened? There"s a lot of risks involved while the information that they have compared to hers doesn"t really match.

"By the way, what are those creatures that were chasing you?" said Jun. He was really curious to what those were since their eyes appear atleast one feet above the ground. He knew nothing of animals that big that could live inside the mines.

As if reminded of terrifying monsters, Angelica fearfully clutched her chest. She did her best to utter the names of the creatures she hated before and even now, "Rats. Very large rats."

***

Sheila was busy checking everyone"s condition while Edward was patrolling the area. Nik sat beside Bartolome, who was lying on top of the table. He was already recovered but was trying to get some rest.

Why are they taking so long? thought Edward. He could see that their were not that many buildings to check, so he felt worried as to why the two hasn"t come back.

Just as he walked near the edge of the uphill dirt road, he noticed a group of uniformed soldiers cautiously climbing up the slope. This slope was the only other way to reach the camp site where they are currently at.

Edward hurriedly run back to the tent while contacting Jun.