Chapter 20 - New Comrades?

They began their training, and Mica and the two others trained with them while leading the group. My training room was completely different from theirs. It was on the bottom floor and designed to withstand any attacks I might make. I trained my body hard since I had a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders. In the morning, I trained with my android summoning, while I trained with guns in the afternoon. Lastly, I trained in the simulation room for sword training. Of course, after that, I applied it all in real life. Yuki, who was by my side, trained with me.

Days passed, and it became weeks. I went outside for fresh air and talked to Yuki about my past in the village when suddenly the blue panel popped up with a warning. The surveillance camera showed something alarming: humans. A group of humans with well-equipped weapons showed up on my CCTV. "Who are they?" Yuki asked. "I don't know."

"We need some help! We are soldiers from the military. We got ambushed by zombies, and we need some medicine and food if there is any! Please, we are begging you," the strangers pleaded.

I called Mica, "Hey Mica."

"What do you want?"

"So harsh, you see, looks like we have some visitors. Ready half of your men to greet them."

"Roger."

"That's Souta?"

"Yeah, get ready! We have some visitors!" she shouted on the training ground.

Souta summoned his motorcycle, and Yuki went with me. We went to greet them and arrived a few minutes later. We saw a group of people wearing military uniforms who were well-equipped. Their vehicles were unique, and one of them was an armored truck called a Boxer Cargo Vehicle. "Are you military?" I asked.

"Yeah, are you the person that lives here?"

"More or less."

"I'm sorry, kiddo, but we have no choice," they said as they aimed their guns at me. Yuki and I raised our hands.

"Whoa, what's the meaning of this?" I acted scared.

"We only want some medicines and food. Give us that, and we'll let you live," their leader said. He was around 50 years old, and there were five of them outside, one in that vehicle and the others unknown.

"How about we talk about this in a more peaceful way?" Mica and the others came out of hiding inside the forest, aiming at them. Of course, they noticed them.

"You want some medicines, am I right? We have plenty of them, as well as food. We can give you that. So, how about explaining to me first why you want some medicines?" I asked.

"It's a long story. We got ambushed by a group of survivors trying to steal our equipment. We fought back since they didn't have any guns, but surprisingly, one of them had a hidden pistol and shot one of our comrades. We killed all of them as they tried to kill us first. And here we are," their leader explained.

"Alexander Richards, also known as Shadow, is the leader of the group and a former Special Forces operative. He's a master tactician and an expert in stealth and hand-to-hand combat. You guys are mercenaries, I assume?" I said as I glared at them, having looked at their true identity.

"Oh my, please don't be angry. If I'm correct, you were hired by a businessman. What happened to him?" I asked

"You already know us, I guess I will tell you, we were doing good in the first week when one of his servants got bit but didn't tell us, he become a zombie and infected the whole base, we didn't manage to save them" "So you flee and run away?" "..." "Well, I won't blame you guys as that would also what I will do... How about a deal" "A deal?" Shadow asked, "As a mercenary, you work if you gain something from it right? here's my proposal, I would give you a medicine, food, water, and a safe place to stay, and in exchange you will work for me how's that sound?"

Shadow looked at me for a moment, assessing the situation. "What kind of work are we talking about?" he asked. "Nothing too complicated," I replied. "So as I say and we are all good"

Shadow nodded thoughtfully. "And what about our freedom? Will we be allowed to leave whenever we want?"

"Of course," I said. "I won't hold you here against your will. But I think you'll find that we're a pretty good group to work with. We're well-trained, well-equipped, and we have a lot of resources at our disposal."

Shadow looked at his team, then back at me. "Alright," he said. "We'll accept your offer. But just remember, if you cross us, we won't hesitate to turn against you."

"I understand," I said. "But I think we can work together for mutual benefit."