Chereads / Journey in the apocalypse / Chapter 11 - Chapter 11: People's republic of EverMart (II)

Chapter 11 - Chapter 11: People's republic of EverMart (II)

Jacob makes a scene as he jumps out of the driver seat, in a bunker suit with a Colt M4 Carbine slung on his back and a pistol on his hips.

Three of the ten insectoid humans jump down. Each carrying an assault rifle and studded with a motorbike helmet and shirt.

They crawl over to the side compartments of the truck and each carry a wooden crate of goods. They were nimble and strong, so carrying any extra luggage would not affect their fighting abilities.

It was less terrifying and more menacing. They strut in a sauve and intimidating way towards the EverMart.

The people hadn't stopped conversing about the fire truck appearance and this only heightened the chatters.

"Could he be a necromancer?" someone whispered.

"Nah, definitely mind control, those are fungi zombies not the undead" debunked another person.

"No, no both of you are wrong, I think he must've gotten the queen nest hostage! Hahaha!" a person makes a bad joke as he slaps his friend's back.

His friends ignored him, how in the world can a group much less a person beat up an entire nest and fight the final boss, that is the queen!?

There is simply no way in the current time. Humans are still too weak.

In the midst of all the gossip, Jacob felt very excited and proud. But he didn't let that into his head.

As he walks to enter through the front doors of the EverMart a guard walks forward to greet him.

"Stand your ground!" shouted a guard in a police swat suit. He raises his hand in a signal to stop.

"No weapons are allowed inside! Leave your weapons here and then you may come inside"

Jacob drops his weapon into the bin then waves his hand and the insectoid humans follow his movements.

During all of this, the snipers on the roof of the EverMart have already signalled their boss.

Inside the management office.

"Sir from what the information our scouts have gathered, there should be no doubt that the man from the fire truck must come from a powerful base" a loyal henchman reports kneeling with his head bowed.

"He probably isn't from the government, because if he is then he would be wearing real armor and some kind of military vehicle like an M1 Abrams," the henchman adds, still in the same posture.

"However, judging from his unreal ability to control fungi zombies, he might not be part of any organization. I don't think any organization would have their trump card out by themselves… unless they have an even more powerful person," finally the henchman finishes his analysis.

The boss nods his head and beckons him to go.

He was a former employee in charge of cleaning duties at EverMart, now he's a boss of 100 men.

Talk about rising up the ranks!

He is obviously an enabled, otherwise how is able to effectively command 100 men some of which are also enabled.

It was just another average day he had already closed the store, however this time he was cleaning up for the last time. Before he could put the expired milk into the garbage disposal, the sun disappeared and a thick miasma swept his vision before he could see again.

When he woke up again, he felt different, it couldn't be put into descriptive words but he felt better than he had been all his life.

In his first encounter with a fungi zombie, he noticed that his muscles expanded at an alarming rate.

He just knew it was the zombie apocalypse, his world was now very similar to the movies and books he read.

Needless to say, he tore through zombies and took shelter inside the EverMart. He had about a decades worth of food and supplies so he made the shopping place into his kingdom's palace.

When people stumbled upon his stronghold, he coaxed them with a gentle force to become his subordinates.

Fresh produce and meat section. VIP only.

"Mr. Eldeiry, right this way sir," a worker humbly guides Jacob to the VIP section, "Out boss kept these products in condition since the apocalypse y'know?"

Jacob frowns then relaxes. The boss must be capable to still keep produce fresh. Looking at the vegetables and fruits in plastic packages on shelves, they don't seem shriveled up or have gone bad at all.

They must regularly sprinkle water on them to keep the vegetables and fruits nice and plump.

Jacob looks around judging the products while the insectoid humans follow obediently by his side.

In a few minutes, the boss of EverMart came to greet him.

"Ah, Mr. Eldeiry, how are you doing?" the boss took out his hand for a handshake, he looked like an average person.

"I'm doing fine, not much to ask about these days am I right?" Jacob replies, "And you are?"

"You may call me Simmons"

"Then you may call me Jacob"

"Okay let's cut the formalities alright, it's too weird haha," Simmons chuckles as his professionalism drops.

"Alright, here's the deal, I want all of these carrots, potatoes, cabbages, apples, bananas, broccolis, corn, tomatoes, bell peppers," Jacob spews a long list of vegetables and fruits as he points to the piles of said goods.

His insectoid zombies open the crates to show canned goods, medical supplies and valuables.

Obviously Jacob knows that the so-called 'fresh produce' will become bad after a couple more months, so buying/trading for small amounts is better.

"You must be joking right? Because that's not happening" Simmons snorted but his tone wasn't disrespectful.

He was still wary of Jacob's powers. [ED: he doesn't know that Jacob is actually a normal human being]

"Yeah, I was joking, actually just get a bag of each,'' Jacob smiles, but Simmons can't see his face behind a mask.

"Alright then one box of medical supplies will suffice!" Simmons snaps fingers and two people walk over to complete the deal.

Simmon wasn't interested in valuables such as gold or jewelry.

Jacob walked around for a bit and wanted to buy some more things but he didn't have enough to trade for.

So he left EverMart and went around the parking lot to see what else is there to buy or potentially get some more information.

Banknetic, noon.

Atkinson was trying to get an orb to see if he can also absorb its powers, and after killing a bunch around his area he got two of them.

Turns out he couldn't absorb the essence of the orbs at all, guess he can only improve his powers by simply eating a ton.

You might ask, why can't he just take the orbs from his insectoid zombies? Well, these essence orbs are incredibly rare among zombies.

It has a higher chance to be found in stalker zombies than the normal runner zombies who are the lowest tier zombies.

It has been about a week already and he has amassed a total of 35 insectoid humans. A few insectoid humans have been regularly cleaning the basement everyday.

The rotten meats and fungi stank all the way to heaven.

The street that is the graveyard for those couple hundred dead zombies was starting to clear up a bit.

Vroom, vroom, vroom

At this moment three trucks are rolling over the carcasses on graveyard street.