It's 6 a.m. We are walking on a narrow path of dirt that went through an acre of rice paddy. The expanse of green carpet is a good sign of a nearby village. Sometimes we have to take careful steps to not slip down into the mud. The sun rises - the god-rays showered through the thick fog. Air's fresh and soft. Kingfishers sang as they fly low. There are no farmers that come to work on the field.
A bridge can be seen up the hill. Far ahead is a line of trees and banks of bamboo growths, and behind them is the river.
"Let's head there. We have gone far." Dan said.
"Where?" Vo asked.
"The bridge over there, a bit to the left, kinda."
--
It took some jumps down the low ledge to finally reach the riverbank. The river is not too deep. Shallow, even. The crystal clear water reveals its bottom full of pebbles and gravel. It was easy to cross - we just had to lift our pants to the knees. The river curves on our left, in which after the turn stood a structure of a bridge, and two big pipes extended between two steep ledges.
The slope of the hill is now in front of us.
"Do you think the Adjusters still exist?" Anton asked. He strode just behind me and Serx.
"Haha, ask Dan. He's very passionate about that magic 'egg'." Serx tells.
"Now, the question should be 'is the safe zone still open?' It's a port. High chance they are moving the survivors somewhere else." I added up.
"Ask Vo. That's the best answer."
Sounds of helicopters roared from behind as we get to the top. There are four of them passing in a loose formation.
"Of course yes," Vo said confidently. He surely knows.
And here's the bridge. As far as I can tell, there haven't been any vehicles passing it. It was quiet and empty, eluded by the white fog. Sometimes it creeped me out just how silent everything is. While commotion's not a good idea, either. We're safe, at least for now. Here is a good place to have a recess to rehydrate and mind about the next steps.
"There."
Serx pointed to me an old bicycle that was standing against the bridge's metal railing. It looks brown of rust. Straps of cut tire strips are tied to several parts of the frame. A local farmer must have left the bike there for a long time. I was unconcerned before, but Serx suddenly came up with an idea.
"Someone can ride it, down the road to scan our way. We can see what's ahead without provoking any zombies." Serx said.
"How about you!?" yelled Jemz to him. It was more like an intimidating joke than a serious threat.
"Okay, calm down, calm down."
"Just kidding, Serx, lemme do it."
"Thanks, man. Here, a cookie."
"Haha, no need dude. The fresh air is worth some pedals. How far should I go?" He said as he mounted himself on the rusty bike.
He left the group and was soon engulfed in the fog.
--
I'm sitting on the concrete barrier along with Serx and Dan. Vo stood with his arms crossed while the others lay down. It even gave us enough time to set a mattress and ate. Two canned fishes away, and that guy hasn't been back yet. If anything goes right, this long time should've gotten him more than three kilometers.
"Have you checked the wheels? Maybe the tires popped. Maybe the frames snapped." Vo tells. "Who knows."
The boys replied with stares. They took Vo's word seriously despite the that he was probably trying to melt the ice. They started to grow impatient.
"You have to see this!"
A yelling voice can be heard from afar. It's him coming back. His obscured shadow grows bigger as his shoutings do. He flagged his left hand in excitement.
Psst!
"What the heck!"
It shocked everyone.
A high-pitched quick whistle came out of nowhere. He dropped together with the bike immediately after the sound. Someone had certainly shot him. He crawled on the asphalt, but not for so long. His body went limp as he yelled: "A supply! You got to take it!"
From the bushes on the side of the road, a human figure with something that looked like a long rifle came out. His body was covered by a thick coat of foliages and protrusions of leafy twigs. He did something I couldn't see in clear sight to Jemz. It didn't take a long time until a pick-up car arrived on site. Two people with hazmat suits went out of the back. I can see them taking his motionless body into the vehicle.
"HEY! Take us all if you dare!" Serx shouted, which didn't seem to give any effect. They kept going on unconcerned. The hazmat people went into the vehicle along with the ghillied shooter and closed the back door. The vehicle left quickly, leaving behind the fallen bicycle.
"Prepare your weapons, let's go there," Dan said.
"No. Not so fast. Someone had fallen to that."
"So you just want to stand here still?"
"It's not safe!"
"We can get each other's back. Plus no one will ever dare to bother us if we are not alone." Dan convinces.
The majority of us agreed with him - we have the strength of numbers. He would know that there's no other way than to walk down this road. Sooner or later, we have to move.
--
It took some distance to finally arrive at the supply he found. It kind of made sense that he spent a long time. Maybe he had caught more information aside from this supply drop - about the way ahead.
Somehow the shooter let him come to see the thing first, then shot him on the way back. What is their purpose?
"And who are them?"
"It couldn't be bandits or robbers. They've got hazmats. They're people from a lab. But it doesn't seem to be from the government." Vo said. "It may look like so, but as far as I know, it isn't. Those helis aren't dropping these shits."
Stood among the trees and vegetation not far from the road is a large olive-colored box. The parachute was still attached to it, on four strands of rope. Its lid closed, untouched. Jemz must haven't had a chance to open it before telling us. A label can be seen on the side of the box, down at the corner. I took a crouch to examine what it says.
Adjusting the balance.
So, it was real.
The clueless boys were still busy minding and talking about everything but the label. Some of them wander around. Even Dan hadn't noticed it for some reason.
"Why the heck did they drop it without any sign? I mean, no flare or smokes." Serx asked.
"It might have dropped out yesterday," Vo replies. "Or maybe they wanted to keep it hidden."
I told them about the markings.
"Shite!" Dan said loudly. "It was them!"
It boggles my mind how they've planned for everything. Everyone quickly sank into a deep shock of disbelief. And just right here, at this moment, we realize that Dan wasn't talking nonsense. All of their stratagems were cleanly executed. How crazy.
"We, are safe, no?" Serx said. Worries painted his expression. We started to grow a sense of insecurity. Another big problem emerged beside the zombies and disease - The Adjusters. They could be anywhere.
Dan didn't confirm anything. The Adjusters being here - in this country - is a mystery to him.
"Grab anything worthy and continue our walk," Vo commanded. "Go, go, go."
"Lend me a hand," Anton said while opening the clamp, two on each side. This box is quite tall, about one and a half meters. It took an effort by Anton and Frando to roll it over.
Inside the box are state-of-art pieces of equipment. These things are not something to toy with.
"Dang it."
There are two 12-gauge shotguns and ammunition, along with a bunch of MREs and four big packs of medkits. A lot of bottled waters are also present. At the bottom of the pile of stuff are dozens of N-95 masks and survival kits.
It confused me. Are they good? Are they bad? Did we just trade one of our guys for this load of supplies? Surely no one here is to blame. Dibba's initiative wasn't in vain at all.
We'll see, soon.
"Who will take it? Maybe give your weapon to someone if you want to take the guns." Vo said.
"I will stick to this silent boys. Go take them." A guy tells the other.
"Me too."
"Where's Serx?"
I turned my sight around to left and right. He wasn't here.