Trash In The Apocalypse

"What are you talking about? Weren"t you humbled earlier by a D1?"

"No, that"s because the barrier had some weakpoints. If I had used a flat one, I wouldn"t be slapped to the side!"

"That"s right. You"d either be crushed or sent tumbling back. Hahaha!"

"Adrian bro, look at her. She"s made it a habit to bully me."

"Hahaha, are you conceding to her since you"re already asking for help?"

"What, no!"

The chattering in the area suddenly vanished as people disappeared from their spots. On the munic.i.p.al square, dozens of streaks of light appeared one after the other. A huge number of people scrambled towards the south after they regained vision.

Jun finally interrupted them as he ran ahead of the group. "Let"s go. We are probably the only group who could defend this wave. Let"s hope that this is the last wave."

The people who were running beside them had fatigued expressions on their faces. Though there was five minutes interval between the waves, the people couldn"t really rest properly within that time. Within that five minutes, they have to loot bodies and recover as much energy that they could. Afterwards, they have to run towards the column of light. Most of the vehicles were already drained of their gas for fueling generators, resulting on the lack of readily available mode of transportation. The gasoline station still have working pumps and would probably become a hot commodity after this day. 

Jun was just lucky when they found a working jeepney earlier, not because it had gasoline but because he had gasoline on him. A long time ago, he randomly looted a gasoline station and filled a few jerry cans with gasoline. He felt glad that he kept some random things to himself. He even have some motor oils with him, just in case he needed it.

As he pa.s.sed by Black Haven, he searched for Bernard and told him to coordinate with the police in repairing the Teleport Portal. After repeated ma.s.s teleports, the Teleport Portal received a huge cut on its durability. Thankfully, it was repaired towards its max durability by volunteers yesterday.

When Jun caught up with the crowd, the people were only standing on muddy waters. They stood approximately 100m away from Black Haven compund. Behind the mall were some corns in neat rows. The farmer father and son curiously watched the crowd of people in the distance.

The cornfield was a secret only known by Black Haven"s people. People would normally visit the vegetable garden at the front and wouldn"t even think that there was a small plantation here at the back. Now that the people knew of the cornfield"s existence, the father and son have to consider setting up some security measures.

"Where are they?" some people shouted when they couldn"t find the enemies. At the same time, the water level was slowly rising and reached their knees at unprecedentingly fast pace.

The sh.o.r.eline was slowly decreasing as the water level rose. Jun gathered everyone"s attention and explained the situation. 

"The enemies are probably underwater. Unless you"re a skilled swimmer, I recommend staying on land."

With that said, he called his members and formed a circle.

"Nik, your group will support me," Jun said then glanced at Adrian, Sheila, Edward and the new recruits that followed here. "If any of you can swim, you can come. Don"t go if you"re not confident with your skills, you"ll just be a burden. I"ll teach everyone a technique and if you can learn it, you could also come."

Jun gave a brief explanation how to use Water Stride. This skill allows someone to walk over water at the expense of energy. The skill couldn"t be used continously as it drains 20 energy on first cast and subsequest 1energy per 10seconds. The benefits of learning the skill was its pa.s.sive increase in underwater movement speed. This greatly benefits swimmers and divers to move around underwater.

Learning skills either takes skill or luck. If you could comprehend the skill and learn it quickly then its your luck. But if you don"t you can just continue trying to do so. After the first round of trials, Edward triumphantly laughed as he jumped above the water. Every time his feet landed on top of the water, it made soft splashy sounds. He then circled around Adrian and Sheila as if gloating.

Adrian and Sheila could only glare at him as nerves popped on their head. 

"Adrian, take charge here."

"Okay." Adrian dejectedly replied.

By the time they were ready to move, a slimy head came out of the water. As if to say that it wasn"t alone, a continuous stream of heads came out and they started walking towards the sh.o.r.e. Their gaping mouths released water and their screams sounded like they were gurgling. Seaweeds were glued to their faces and barnacles could be seen on their shoulders. The special carriers strode forward slowly and glared at the crowd.

Jun quickly used Water Stride. When he felt that energy automatically gathered on the soles of his feet, he raised his foot and stepped over water. He felt the friction between his feet and the water, and just like stepping on solid land, he rose up and stood steadily. Nik"s group followed after him and rose up.

"Let"s go."

—

Like most of the people watching the scene, Paolo Canlas and Alday Ruan were flabbergasted when they saw Jun"s group running on the surface of the water. Everyone had the same questions in mind. Ninjas?!

Though envious of their ability, the skill seemed to need some level of skill for one to use properly. The leftover crowd from Black Haven proved it. In their minds, Black Haven has really become a power house worthy of respect. Currently, they were already planning on establis.h.i.+ng some ties with them, at any cost.

Alday Ruan"s decision wasn"t unexpected since the main purpose of The Frontier was to help common people. Everything that could increase the survivability of someone would be in the groups best interest.

On the other hand, Paolo Canlas" decision was a bit surprising but understandable. Although he condemns Jun"s way of living—being strong but not caring for the people—he couldn"t help but admire the strengths that he have. If he could convince Black Haven to partner with the government then everything would become a breeze. They don"t need or expect everything but a few useful skills would help people become stronger.

Honestly, The Frontier and PNP[1]had the same goal since the very start. To help and save as many people that they could. The only difference was The Frontier teaches you how to survive, how to fight, etcetera while the PNP maintains peace and order on the community, and at the same time, tries their best to rescue as many people as they could.

As the slimy carriers approached closer, the people"s anxiousness level rose. Simply because the water level has already reached their waist. If they retreated, the distance between the carrier and them would increase. By the time they got close to each other, the water level would have already risen once again.

"Hold your line! Let"s try to fight here! They"re probably the same as the one on land. Just severe the head, so they won"t stand up again."

Though it was unknown who shouted the order, it eased the heart of the people since there was someone willing to act as the leader. The sh.o.r.eline had a long stretched line of people. Black Haven"s group were at the east, the PNP at the center and The Frontier at the west. The small unaffiliated parties gathered on the far east next to Black Haven. These people learned that as long as they stick to Black Haven, there safety would be guaranteed. Some of them also learned not to kill-steal the hard way.

Jun"s group circled around and kept his gaze underwater. His eyes were already s.h.i.+ning as he scanned for the target that he was looking for, further draining his energy.

"There it is!"

Upon seeing the unique carrier among the end of the underwater carriers, Jun quickly inhaled and dove down underwater. This time, it was a battle concerning time. He knew from previous experience that this unique carrier was a cowardly one, so he had to kill it as quickly as possible.

When the underwater carriers noticed the group of divers, they quickly changed directions and targeted Jun"s group. The unique carrier casually slapped its arms towards them.

Jun felt that its actions should be treated with caution, so he slowed down, causing him to float vertically on the spot. All of a sudden, three spots from his stomach was. .h.i.t by something. He felt like he was shot again by three rubber bullets.

A large amount of bubbles formed after Jun uncontrollably coughed, forcing him climb up and get some air. The group became surprised when they saw Jun burst out a lot of air. Though they don"t know what happened, everyone saw the eye catching carrier that waved its hand towards Jun. 

Edward quickly casted a barrier in front of Jun to block any follow-up. But that didn"t stop the underwater carriers from swimming forward.

They swam like fishes as they moved their legs with both hands at the sides. Their movements were fluid as if they were gliding on water, not even once did they hit each other. The unique carrier glided upwards as it controlled the water around it.

Before the group could reach the water surface, the underwater carriers were already close. Jun had an anguished expression on his face when his head popped out of the water. He remain floating and chose not to climb out of water to preserve energy.

"I underestimated it too much!"

Since he won over the first time he fought the water elemental carrier, he thought that the second time would have been much easier! But he made a huge miscalculation. When he fought the water-element carrier, it was on land! Now that they were fighting on its territory, it was fighting on its full prowess. He finally tasted the skills that the water-element carrier was unable to use last time. As he was catching his breath and contemplating about his failure, something caught his interest from the distant.

Though they didn"t know what happened, the group stayed underwater and was already prepared to fight it out. They only realized how skillful these underwater carriers in swimming were when they got surrounded easily. They tried swimming up but the unique carrier would then order for an attack, which the group had to defend. If this continued on, they would run out of air.

Just as they were wondering when Jun would help them, a huge shadow appeared on the water surface followed by smaller ones.

[1] Philippine National Police