The inside of the van was spacious. It was an ordinary passenger van used by commuters called UV Express. It can carry up to sixteen passengers at a time.
Adrian placed the unconscious Jun on the nearest seat. Upon seeing Jun's state, everyone became frightened. Sheila hurriedly checked Jun's pulse and temperature. Jun had normal heartbeats, but he's currently burning like lit charcoal, although not too hot, it isn't healthy.
Sheila used minor healing and cure on Jun, then rechecked his vitals.
"His temperature's not going down!"
The chance to cure ailments failed. She then turned to his leg. "We can wait until I can use Cure on him again, but his leg injury is the real problem."
"I can heal his health back up, but I can't regenerate torn muscles.", she said, then looked at Adrian, "Why didn't you help him?"
Adrian kept quiet. Although it hasn't been a long time since he met Jun, he could at least say that he understands him the most.
He watched him kill someone for no reason; he was with him on the clinic and saw how he ignored a person's safety as he let him leave with no warning at all. He knew that Jun could become a cold and ruthless person when he wanted to. At the same time, he could be the nicest person when you get to know him.
Ever since the world changed, he was always at the front, taking responsibility to lead them, keeping everyone safe on his back. Just like when they were stuck at the locked door, instead of waiting on the door, he advanced and blocked most of the infected, lessening the burden for the members of the group. Although some unfortunate things happened, he still did his best.
This time he knew that something was wrong but still chose to let Jun do what he wants.
He ignored the question and sat down, closing his eyes.
"I just allowed him to vent this time. There won't be a next time." he thought to himself.
Sheila cleaned the wound and bandaged it. She could only apply first-aid since the car was shaking a lot.
The car attracted dozens of infected as it traveled the highway.
The old man drove smoothly as he maneuvered the maze-like highway, leaving those infected behind. After a few minutes, they turned right and started traveling on a dirt path.
Sheila noticed the abrupt change and asked anxiously. "Where are we going?"
Adrian opened his eyes and looked outside. Trees and bushes were on the roadside, and there were no houses at all.
He stood up and glared at the old man. "Paterno, where are we going?" Adrian asked, puzzled. "You told me that you know of a safe way to reach the city hall. Did you lie?"
Being bombarded with questions, the old man, Paterno, answered. "This is a diversion road. It's still under construction and not open for public use. This brings us to Manila East Road National highway. The city hall is a minute drive from there."
The wrinkles on his forehead increased after speaking. It seems that something was bothering him.
The car stopped causing everyone on board to look around.
"Why did we stop?" Gina said worriedly.
"This isn't the city hall?"
"Where are we?"
The group chatted as they looked around. A sign hangs on the entrance of the gate, "Lovely Paradise."
Paterno got off the car and ran to the gates. He tried opening the entrance, but a padlock locked it. He pulled some keys in his pocket, then unlocked the gate.
Just as he was about to enter the resort, someone held his shoulder and forced him to turn around.
Adrian was glaring at him; the man's eyes seething with anger. As they traveled, he tried his best to remain calm, but seeing the unconscious Jun inside the car made him felt remorse. He thought what if he helped him, wouldn't he be awake and know of what to do.
He made a fist with his hand and said, "Please explain yourself."
Noticing Adrian's seemingly unstable mind, Paterno didn't delay, and hurriedly answered.
"I own this resort, my-my wife and granddaughter currently stay here, so I wanted to check on them." he stammered as he saw Adrian pulled a knife on his back. He lowered his head and quickly apologized, "I'm really sorry! When I woke up yesterday, people were acting weird. They were biting and killing each other. I was worried but didn't have the courage to go on my own."
"That's why when I saw your group capable of fighting those things, I took my chance.", he looked at Adrian filled with sincerity.
Seeing that Adrian didn't react, he turned around and entered the resort.
Adrian looked up, looking at the sun, shining brightly above his head. He then walked back to the group and said, "We will stay here until they wake up. Let's just play it safe."
He carried Jun over his shoulder and headed towards the resort.
Since they didn't have to carry anything, everyone alighted the van and followed closely behind him. Edward took Bernard on his back as he slowly trudged forward.
They arrived at the reception area. The room was filled with wooden chairs and tables. Tropical plants were placed at every corner, giving out the impression of taking a relaxing vacation on a sunny beach.
"Be careful, stay on guard," Adrian said.
He sat Jun on the chair and surveyed the surroundings. There's a corridor that split into three. The left one goes outside to the pool area. The right one leads to a wooden stairwell going up, and the center has the canteen.
Paterno's laughter was heard outside in the pool area.
"There you are! Honey, where's granny? Is she cooking your meal? What the—"
Adrian and Sheila looked at each other.
"Take care of him!" Adrian shouted as he ran outside.
Sheila nodded, even though Adrian wouldn't be able to see it.
Seeing that the place wasn't safe, everyone tensed up. They took their weapons out of their dimensional storage and kept a tight formation.
Sheila said. "Don't worry. From what I heard, there are only two people here. Let's search this area and make sure that it's safe."
"I'll search upstairs. You guys should group up and search the canteen," said Edward.
Everyone nodded and began walking when they heard a weak voice from behind.
"Let me help."