Boom!
The sudden loud noise caused the three individuals walking towards the parliament building to instinctively duck their heads, and they all turned around to look back.
"Where did that come from?"
Elena looked at the ruined street behind with a hint of fear but saw nothing. She nervously asked, "Was that... an explosion?"
"It wasn't an explosion..."
As someone who had heard all kinds of sounds, Airon immediately noticed the strength of the sound and said, "It should be the sound of something hitting..."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bam!
But before anyone else could ask, the roar of gunfire came from the direction of the loud noise, and the dense shots rang out one after another. The distance from the three's location to the sound of the gunfire was only two blocks away.
"Let's go, let's get out of here quickly!"
These movements made Laura feel a bit uneasy, and the wide road without shelter couldn't give her any sense of security. She signaled for Elena to follow closely.
Upon hearing Laura's words, Elena naturally walked forward without hesitation. However, Airon, on the contrary, stood still, lost in his thoughts without any reaction.
"Airon! Airon!"
Soon, Laura realized what had happened to Airon. She called out several times in a row and saw that he still didn't respond. But at that moment, the radio started emitting a fuzzy frequency.
"Laura, what's happening?" After being pulled like that, Airon came back to his senses and looked at Laura by his side.
"Can't you walk? You don't look too good. Should we rest in a nearby place?" Laura provided support and helped Airon keep moving.
"You should use the radio, try to contact the people who should be on the same channel..."
Upon hearing this, Airon fell silent briefly, turned his head, and looked in the direction of the gunfire on the street behind him. He told himself, "There seems to be something there. Those gunshots might be coming from my people..."
Ignoring Airon's murmurs, Laura led him to the sewer in front of the parliament building.
"Oh, how disgusting..."
Looking at the green water with floating green algae in front of her, Elena secretly stuck out her tongue, noticed that the car wasn't far away, hesitated for a moment, and pointed, "I don't think swimming would be good for Airon, plus, I can't swim..."
"We don't have a choice..."
Laura smiled weakly, looked over the stagnant water, and said, "The right side seems shallower. Let's keep going until we pass a few streets away from here..."
As she said this, she took the radio and pressed the button to communicate with Airon's people. "Zz... Hello? Can anyone hear me? Someone named Airon gave me this radio."
"Zz..."
Seeing that there was no response, she looked at Airon, then left the radio aside, and jumped into the stagnant water of the sewer. She helped Airon stay on his feet after he jumped, and eventually, half of their bodies submerged in the water, significantly slowing their progress.
Raising their hands and walking slowly along the stagnant water, Laura, who was supporting Airon from the right side, said to Elena, "I'm glad you're a bit taller than before..."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
When Laura, who was leading the way, heard this, she turned her head and looked at the girl behind her. "My sister, your mother, wasn't very tall..."
"Yeah, I guess I've grown a lot since she left."
As if she had never said such a thing before, Elena scratched her cheek with some embarrassment and said, "But at least I'm relieved that she doesn't have to suffer like we are in this world..."
"This is nothing..."
Unexpectedly, Elena, who had been very closed off since her mother's death, openly said these words, causing Laura to smile a little.
The three of them walked through the stagnant water and soon reached their next stop. Except for Airon, whose vision was blurry, Elena and Laura couldn't help but smile on their faces.
Elena's smile was because this journey was about to reach a safe place, and they only had to wait for Airon's people to come and take them to a safer place. Laura's smile was because they would no longer be in danger.
But Airon, standing beside Laura with his face covered by his messy hair, frowned. He was still extremely angry about getting infected, especially by a child. It was unacceptable, and the people of this town must pay for it.
They were so close to the entrance, and there seemed to be no trace of any living beings. As they climbed up the collapsed sewer, Airon forced himself to concentrate and raised his vigilance.
Quickly walking at the front of the line, Airon held a pistol in his right hand and leaned against the door of the building in front of them.
Laura also reacted at this moment and felt something strange. The excitement in her heart immediately faded, and she drew her pistol as well.
Crack!
The door of the building made a rough sound. Airon slowly opened the door and looked inside, trying to see if there were any figures.
"It seems that someone is still alive!"
Seeing a corpse lying at the door at a glance, Laura secretly cursed, quickly walked to the hallway to check beside the corpse, and looked along the corridor. She only saw the corpses of a dozen people with scarlet combat uniforms lying on the floor.
"How is this possible?!"
Looking at all these dead people, Laura became extremely nervous.
"Laura, we should go back!"
Looking at the corpses scattered on the floor, Airon was full of doubts. The time of death of the bodies couldn't exceed three hours, which means all these people had died before they arrived.
Although he didn't know who killed these people, he could deeply sense that a shootout had taken place here.
Although both of them were on high alert, after all, they didn't lose anything, but they were afraid that something from here would attack them by surprise.
"Could it be someone from the military?"
"Not exactly."
Before Airon could speak, Laura, who was examining the corpse, spoke first.
But just as Laura was about to tell the rest of the speculation, a deep male voice suddenly sounded behind them.
"Who's there?!"
...
Two hours ago.
Four in the morning.
"It seems like dawn is approaching."
Standing on top of a tall armored vehicle, Joel watched as the sun gradually rose in the sky. He rubbed his cold hands and said, "I didn't expect to leave the base so quickly..."
"It's alright, it's not that big of a deal."
Securing the rope to a solid stone pillar, Tommy slung a rifle on his back and gave the order for everyone to move forward.
"I don't know how long it will take for us to return to how we were before..."
"With Airon, that dream is much closer."
Tommy, who was leading the troops to the village where Airon and his people were, prepared himself. "The village is just ahead. I hope we arrive in time."